The Hazey Janes - The Winter That Was

The Hazey Janes have undergone their fair share of globe-trotting since releasing their rightly praised eponymous mini-album some 8 years ago. They escaped the Caledonian rain and absconded to Spain to record their debut long-player Hotel Radio which met with significant acclaim upon its release in February 2006 and the band set forth, playing shows both everywhere and anywhere.  They headlined  throughout the UK, and as well as playing in support to the likes of Elbow, Idlewild and Snow Patrol the band made two trips to the SXSW festival. With all guns blazing the band hopped Stateside again in 2007 to New Jersey, where they recorded a new album entitled Hands Around The City .Unfortunately for the fan-base that the band amassed on their travels, the album has become stuck in limbo.  Somewhere between the cosmos of legality and the galaxy of small print it remains unreleased to this day, much to the band’s dismay. In the words of Nietzsche, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, and so The Hazey Janes re-grouped in bonnie Dundee, chalked Hands Around The City up to experience and refined their zig-zag path from country to psych to power pop on The Winter That Was. Like a temporal vortex or dimensional doorway the ominous pitch-bending groan of opener ‘Cascade River Gardens’ pulls us, the listeners into Dr. Who’s famous TARDIS. Spinning us round before dropping us firmly in familiar Hazey Janes terrain, albeit with the band harnessing a new found vitality in their sound.  The beefed up brash power pop of ‘Carmelite’ states the intentions of The Winter That Was with fervour, Liam Brennan’s unyielding rhythm augmented by Matthew Marra’s punchy, melodic bass-lines. A heady foundation on which to build, and Alice Marra’s vintage synthesizers coupled with Andrew Mitchell’s chunky guitars thrill the listener with every layer they add.  Deeply enchanting and surprisingly brisk, ‘Girl In The Night’, succinctly distils the band’s striking three-part harmonies with a healthy dollop of 80’s drive-time rock, stirring and infectious. On consideration, Scotland has had a long-standing affinity with Stateside music and The Hazey Janes specialise in the West Coast variety not least on ‘Aspen’ - loosely based on a tale about the exploits of Hunter S. Thomson - and the startling ‘You Only Stand To Lose If I Stay’ which sees Andrew delivering the most soaring of vocals. Pumped full of pop vitamins like Big Star on steroids, the Hazey Janes are ready to take on the world again.  // “"Life-affirming… The Hazey Janes may just be the best haggis-powered country rockers yet” – Mojo // “"Dundee’s Hazey Janes do it well because they keep the energy levels up, remembering that this stuff is nothing if it doesn’t brighten your day…instantly wins you over" – Word Magazine //]
Track listing:
1. Cascade River Gardens,
2. Carmelite,
3. Girl In The Night,
4. Aspen,
5. You Only Stand To Lose If I Stay,
6. Wake To Guide Love,
7. Southern Lawns,
8. The Darkness Ends,
9. Paperhearts,
10. Everything Starts Again

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