Amelia Rahayu Murray (born 19 January 1993) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. She is best known for her musical project Fazerdaze. Murray first gained acclaim in 2014 for Fazerdaze's self-titled debut EP. She gained further recognition in 2017 after releasing her debut album, ''Morningside''. Its single, "Lucky Girl", became a viral hit. Following a period of burnout and personal challenges, she took a break from the music industry for several years and returned in late 2022 with Fazerdaze's second EP, ''Break!''. Her second album, ''Soft Power'' was released on 15 November 2024 and received critical acclaim. Fazerdaze's music is best known for its intimate, introspective lyrics and dreamy echo-laden production. Some of the genres associated with the project are dream pop, shoegaze and alternative rock.

Early life

Murray was born in 1993 to an English-born New Zealander father and an Indonesian mother. She is the youngest of three siblings, and was raised in New Zealand's capital city,

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. Her interest in playing music began when she played her father's guitar at age 13. During her time at Onslow College, a Wellington high school with a vibrant music scene, she formed a band with her friends called The Tangle. The band eventually dissolved after they graduated from high school. Murray then made the decision to pursue music as her career and moved to

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

to study music at

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

Career

Fazerdaze EP: 2014–2016

While attending university, Murray began the Fazerdaze project after several failed attempts at forming bands. Soon after, she recorded her self-titled debut EP by herself in her bedroom studio in

. She self-released the EP in October 2014 and received positive reviews. The EP's genre is described as

bedroom pop Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or music production, production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a delibe ...

. Upon the EP's release, Murray began playing at local shows by herself with backing tracks. Eventually, she met fellow New Zealand musicians and expanded Fazerdaze's live act into a full band with auxiliary members accompanying her. Fazerdaze began touring overseas, and opened for other artists' shows, such as

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Unknown Mortal Orchestra (also known as UMO) is a New Zealand psychedelic rock band from Auckland and now based in Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon. Fronted by multi-instrumentalist Ruban Nielson, assisted by his brother The Mint Chicks, Kod ...

and

Connan Mockasin Connan Tant Hosford, better known by the stage name Connan Mockasin, is a New Zealand musician, composer and record producer. Described as "a psych-funk oddball...a contrarian", Mockasin played a role in the contemporary crossover of Psychedeli ...

''Morningside'': 2017–2018

In May 2017, Murray released Fazerdaze's debut album, ''Morningside''. The album was named after the Auckland neighborhood of the same name where she used to live. ''Morningside'' became a hit album with its viral single "Lucky Girl". The single's music video was shot and directed by Samuel Kristofski. Murray edited the music video. Like her previous release, the album is also dubbed as a bedroom pop record. After touring extensively and internationally for the album, Murray experienced burnout and she encountered problems with unhealthy professional and personal relationships.

''Break!'': 2022–2023

Murray went on a hiatus from the music industry for several years, and she returned in 2022 with Fazerdaze's second EP, ''Break!'', which was released on 14 October. The EP was well received by music critics. Murray stated that her hiatus has been instrumental in helping her return to music, and she ended up finishing the EP during a three-month long lockdown in New Zealand. Musically, ''Break!'' is quite different from her previous work and it includes elements of

dance pop Dance-pop is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developi ...

and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

. Fazerdaze appeared in a single by New Zealand rock band

Voom Voom HD Networks was a suite of 25 original high-definition television channels owned by AMC Networks. The channels were produced in Crystal Clear Hi-Definition with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and were the largest suite of HD channels in ...

, titled "Magic" in November 2022. The band's lead singer, Buzz Moller had contributed his songwriting in ''Break!''. In early 2023, Fazerdaze released "Flood Into" as a standalone single, which had previously been available exclusively on the vinyl version of ''Break!''. In September 2023, Fazerdaze released "Bigger", the lead single of her second album, ''Soft Power'', ahead of her late 2023 tour in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the UK, and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

''Soft Power'': 2024–current

In May 2024, Fazerdaze was announced as the support act for Australian psychedelic rock band,

Pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

on their 2024 North American tour which was held from November until early December. On 10 September 2024, Murray announced the release date of Fazerdaze's sophomore album, ''Soft Power''. Along with the announcement, she released "Cherry Pie", the second single from the album. The song became her first No. 1 hit on the NZ Hot Singles chart. In the following month, she released the third single from the album, titled "A Thousand Years" on 9 October 2024. Just before the album's release, Murray and her bandmate, Dave Rowlands, commenced on the tour with Pond on 12 November 2024. On 15 November 2024, ''Soft Power'' was released and received critical acclaim. The album's fourth and last single, "So Easy" was released with a music video uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

on the same day. Fazerdaze won the Best Solo Artist and Album of The Year categories for ''Soft Power'' during the 60th Aotearoa Music Awards, which was held on 29 May 2025. This is her first time winning both awards.

Artistry

Murray mostly prefers making music by herself. Some of the musical genres linked to Fazerdaze are dream pop,

, indie pop,

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

, indie rock and shoegaze. Some of Murray's musical influences include 1990s rock bands, such as Blur and

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

Members

Studio

* Amelia Murray – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, production (2014–present)

Live

Per Marty Duda; also adapted from ''Break!'' and ''Soft Power'' liner notes. * Amelia Murray – lead vocals and guitar (2014–present) * Dave Rowlands – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (2022–present) * Kathleen Tomacruz – bass guitar, backing vocals (2022–present) * Oliver O'Loughlin – drums (2017–2018; 2022–present)

Former live members

According to Gareth Shute, David Farrier and Andy Hazel. * Gareth Thomas – bass guitar (2014–2015) * Andrea Holmes – drums (2014–2015) * Mark Perkins – guitar, keyboards (2015–2018) * Elliot Francis – drums (2015–2018) * Benjamin Locke – bass guitar (2015–2018) * Guy Cowan * Benjamin Tindall * Carla Camilleri – keyboards, backing vocals (2022–2024)

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Collaborations

*Aporia ft. Fazerdaze - "First Nail In The Coffin" (2018) *Eyedress ft. Fazerdaze - "Window Eyes" (2018) *Sparrows ft. Fazerdaze - "Gold in the Tide" (2019) *The Phoenix Foundation - "Beside Yourself (with Fazerdaze)" (2021) *Voom ft. Fazerdaze - "Magic" (2022)

Notes

References

External links

*
Flying Nun Records - Fazerdaze
{{Authority control 1993 births Aotearoa Music Award winners Dream pop musicians Grönland Records artists Flying Nun Records artists Living people Musicians from Auckland New Zealand people of English descent New Zealand people of Indonesian descent New Zealand women guitarists New Zealand record producers New Zealand women record producers