Fazerdaze makes music for lazy days, the kind where you don't need any loud or busy music to distract you from watching the world drift by. Using simple tools -- guitars both acoustic and electric, bass, drums, keys, her voice, and loads of reverb -- New Zealander Amelia Murray crafts simple music that's easy to swallow and easy to love in a subdued way.
Morningside rolls past on a soft wave of pretty melodies, muted strings, and clearly arranged songs that don't feel like singles, but they seem familiar and comfortable. Most of them are structured and built the same way, with no fuss and a pillow-wrapped hook somewhere in the mix. The best tracks, like the peppy "Lucky Girl," the sweetly jangling "Jennifer," and the softly clanging "In My Room," seem like they have the potential to stick around long after the album's last note fades; the album itself lingers in the mind as a perfect pick for when something is needed to soothe an uneasy soul or make a crappy day a little more palatable.
Fazerdaze doesn't have much in common with the music of most of her Flying Nun labelmates past and present, but it is more proof that their A&R department still knows the score.