Fazerdaze is really making up for lost time these days.
Just months after releasing her long-awaited second studio album, Soft Power, Fazerdaze today dropped “Motorway”, which signals a new chapter for the Christchurch-born indie-pop artist.
Out now via Fazerdaze’s own Buttrfly Records, “Motorway” is a gritty, synth-laden song, which finds her pondering the numbing comfort of routine.
“Motorway”, she says, is about “a feeling of being trapped between a city and a relationship, searching for home in both, but finding it in neither. It explores an enmeshment with familiarity.”
The titular motorway symbolises this suffocating feeling to her: “repetitive, a loop to break out of, a false sense of freedom.”
The single arrives alongside the announcement of five US headline shows, including a performance at New York City’s iconic Bowery Ballroom, through September. While in North America, Fazerdaze will also play shows with Pixies and Spoon.
“Motorway” is the quick follow-up to last year’s Soft Power, which took out the top spot on our Best New Zealand Albums of 2024 list.
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“Soft Power would have topped our list based on the merits of the music alone, but it’s the story behind the album that means it was the only choice for #1. The passing of time is unforgiving for artists, particularly female pop artists, so for Fazerdaze to return with such an accomplished, uncompromising album is a testament to her talent. New Zealand is lucky to have her back,” we wrote.
We also gave Soft Power a four-star review, writing, “It’s this delicate yet powerful balance of grappling with intense change — ultimately seeking compassion for herself — interwoven with her expanded ‘bedroom stadium’ sound that allows Soft Power to strike with gentle force, like the warm glow of sunlight breaking through after a long, dark night, recharging your spirit and lighting the way forward.”
Read Fazerdaze’s Rolling Stone AU/NZ in-depth profile, which featured in our special Musicians on Musicians issue, here.
Fazerdaze’s second album is in contention for Album of the Year at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards, with the winner set to be announced next Thursday, (May 29th).
Fazerdaze’s “Motorway” is out now via Buttrfly Records.
