Hazel English

Hazel English, a vocalist and guitarist whose work blends dream pop, jangly folk-rock, and breezy indie pop within her keenly observant material, left her native Australia for California’s Bay Area in 2013. Once settled, she assembled a band and issued her first recordings on the 2016 EP Never Going Home. Her debut full-length, Wake UP!, followed on Polyvinyl in 2020.

Born in Sydney, English arrived in San Francisco and later Oakland that same year, still undecided between pursuing fiction writing or music. Regular appearances at local open mikes, encounters with area musicians, and growing ease on stage ultimately tipped the balance toward performing. While employed at a bookstore, she crossed paths with Jackson Phillips of Day Wave; the two connected immediately and began working together.

The initial three tracks they completed were uploaded to a streaming platform, where they quickly drew widespread attention. English then put a band together and made her live debut in late 2015, supporting Craft Spells at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. Throughout 2016 the group toured extensively, both supporting Ride and Field Music and headlining its own shows. Near year’s end she released the home-recorded Never Going Home EP on Marathon in Australia and House Anxiety Records in the U.K.; the set paired two previously circulated songs with three fresh cuts. Additional dates followed, encompassing a European headline run in late 2016, a return visit to Australia, and her first U.S. headline tour in early 2017.

While continuing to track new material, she saw Polyvinyl issue the double EP Never Going Home/Just Give In in early 2017, combining the original release with an unreleased five-song collection. In 2020 the label brought out her first proper studio album, Wake UP!, with half the songs cut in Los Angeles alongside producer Justin Raisen (Charli XCX, Angel Olsen) and the remainder recorded in Atlanta with Ben H. Allen (Deerhunter, Animal Collective).