‘H’ is for… HEZEN

Welcome to the first artist to feature in our newly rebooted Alphabet. While there are many superb new acts out there, just waiting to be profiled, in reality there was only ever going to be one artist we’d choose to start with. As we noted in our tracks of year countdown, the debut song from HEZEN came out of nowhere to knock our socks off. They’re still not on.

Flashes of her talent had been showcased on her previous work with Icicle and some solo tracks (that are now hard to find, though not impossible) but with “The Girl You Want”, London-based French producer and songwriter Sarah Hezen served notice that she is something special. There is danger and ominous portent dripping off the smouldering electronic melody; sultry and seductive it is an intoxicating concoction of dark magic.

There is more stillness and a softer sensuality to her follow up, “Oil Fire”, though the subject is equally dark and personal. Sarah’s voice is a shaft of light illuminating the marbled swirl of melodic despair, a beam of resilience against the inky black persecution.

Listening we find ourselves lost in this world of HEZEN, this near monochromatic underworld of lust, love and loss. There is a subtle power to her music, evocative and raw within the deft and fragile production. Her vocals twist against the undulating electronics, heady with emotion and buffeted by the quiet force of her rhythms. Snakelike they all slide and squeeze together, strong, dangerous, beautiful and mesmeric.

We’ve been lucky enough to hear some demos of future tracks and our excitement is reaching dangerous levels. “Smoke and Mirrors”, for example, is an eerie wisp of ethereal vocals, heartbeat rhythms, warped electronics, strings and a delicate horror-movie-esque piano line. It’s devilishly dark and delicious where “Try Me” opens with a Stranger Things style retro synth line before a battlefield bass drum brings the tension, a tension which mounts as the track progresses before easing against that gorgeous, icy voice.

HEZEN is due to release her debut EP later this year and it is already shaping up to be one of the must listens of the year. We couldn’t think of a better act to open the Class of 2017.

Get to know HEZEN: Facebook / Twitter

Free Download: Waylayers – “Magnets” Jack Robert Hardman Remix

Regular readers will know that we are big fans of Waylayers, a band we think is one the of the best new synth-pop-combo’s out there right now, and the multi-talented Jack Robert Hardman, who is not only our ’H’ band but was also responsible for one of our favourite albums of last year.

Why are we telling you this?

Because they recently joined forces (sort of) and the result is utterly fantastic.

It was almost a year ago when Waylayer’s dropped the wonderfully huge and atmospheric ”Magnets” with its vast synths and laser guided electronic sounds sprawling out across the sky like the legion of ball-bearings in the accompanying video. Now, Jack has provided a remix and, while it too is vast, it is in a completely different manner.

The original was soaring and full of energy but Jack has managed to break down its constituent parts and create something much more sedate and magical. Here the epic nature comes from the beautiful, glacial solitude it conveys. Like you’re lost in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the infinite whiteness of the ice and snow around you as the vocals whisper in your ear like the breeze brushing past and the piano clinks like icicles falling to the ground.

Get your free download from the player below and prepare to be transported to the Arctic wastelands. Pack your winter clothes.

Waylayers’ latest EP, ‘Fault Lines’, is out now and available to buy digitally. Jack Robert Hardman’s eponymous debut album is also out now and available to buy from iTunes.

Stalk Waylayers: Website / Facebook / Twitter / SoundCloud

Stalk Jack Robert Hardman: Website / Facebook / Twitter