Biography
New Zealand indie songwriter Amelia Murray shapes the echo-drenched pop tunes that constitute Fazerdaze. Short-form recordings and worldwide tours first helped her build an audience, after which the project’s dreamy debut album Morningside surfaced in 2017. Five years later the fuzz-laden, ’90s-tinged EP Break! emerged in 2022. On the 2024 full-length Soft Power she layered shimmery synths and electronic pulses atop the existing fuzz to produce a more atmospheric result.
Raised in Wellington, Murray issued her earliest Fazerdaze material in 2014. Repeated setbacks while trying to assemble bands at the University of Auckland prompted her to adopt the Fazerdaze name, record and release everything herself, and begin playing local gigs. After a stretch of solo performances that relied on backing tracks, she connected with Wellington musicians and gradually assembled a steady lineup: Murray on guitar and vocals, Mark Perkins on guitar and synthesizer, Benjamin Locke on bass, and Elliot Francis on drums. International touring and festival slots raised the band’s profile markedly over the following years. In 2017 the debut LP Morningside appeared on the storied Kiwi pop label Flying Nun, where Murray had once interned; although the live band supported her concerts, she performed nearly every instrument on the album herself.
Burnout after the 2018 tour cycle led Murray to end unhelpful associations, move into her own residence, and withdraw from music. She subsequently drew fresh ideas from favored ’90s groups such as Blur and Nirvana, then shifted to section1, an emerging Partisan Records imprint, while retaining Flying Nun for New Zealand and Australia. The self-produced, solo-Fazerdaze EP Break! reached listeners via section1 in October 2022. For her next project she cultivated a dreamier palette that merged atmospheric synths, electronic beats, and shoegaze-tinged rock elements on the self-produced sophomore LP Soft Power, issued in November 2024.
Raised in Wellington, Murray issued her earliest Fazerdaze material in 2014. Repeated setbacks while trying to assemble bands at the University of Auckland prompted her to adopt the Fazerdaze name, record and release everything herself, and begin playing local gigs. After a stretch of solo performances that relied on backing tracks, she connected with Wellington musicians and gradually assembled a steady lineup: Murray on guitar and vocals, Mark Perkins on guitar and synthesizer, Benjamin Locke on bass, and Elliot Francis on drums. International touring and festival slots raised the band’s profile markedly over the following years. In 2017 the debut LP Morningside appeared on the storied Kiwi pop label Flying Nun, where Murray had once interned; although the live band supported her concerts, she performed nearly every instrument on the album herself.
Burnout after the 2018 tour cycle led Murray to end unhelpful associations, move into her own residence, and withdraw from music. She subsequently drew fresh ideas from favored ’90s groups such as Blur and Nirvana, then shifted to section1, an emerging Partisan Records imprint, while retaining Flying Nun for New Zealand and Australia. The self-produced, solo-Fazerdaze EP Break! reached listeners via section1 in October 2022. For her next project she cultivated a dreamier palette that merged atmospheric synths, electronic beats, and shoegaze-tinged rock elements on the self-produced sophomore LP Soft Power, issued in November 2024.
Albums
