Name: Hazlett
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Nationality: Australian, Stockholm-based
Current Release: Hazlett's new EP Goodbye to the Valley Low is out December 8th 2023 via BLNK/Nettwerk. He is also about to embark on a European/UK tour with ocie • elliott. See here for dates:



If you enjoyed this Hazlett interview and would like to stay up to date with his music, visit his official homepage. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and Soundcloud.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

I think for me it depends what kind of mood I’m in. I go through times of listening to music passively for entertainment or sometimes more intently for inspiration or learning.

I don't really close my eyes while listening but the strange thing is when I perform I spend alot of my time with my eyes closed trying to feel out each song.

How do listening with headphones and listening through a stereo system change your experience of sound and music?

I feel that listening to music through a stereo system is a somewhat more intentional way of listening. If I’m doing that, it is usually to sit down and take in an album or learn. Headphones for me are more synonymous with being on the go.

Don’t get me wrong I’d be lost without my daily headphones but not multi-tasking and just sitting infront of a sound system has something special to it.

Tell me about some of the albums or artists that you love specifically for their sound, please.

I’m always curious for new sounds, something that gets me out of my usual sonic comfort zone. I love digging through new artists and finding different ways of looking at things.

Three of my staples though would be:

The Tallest Man On Earth’s album Wild Hunt because of how raw it is I always gravitate to it.



Carol King’s album Tapesty is another that I’m always drawn back to listening to.



And then the Cease To Begin album by Band of Horses always has a soft spot for me.



Do you experience strong emotional responses towards certain sounds? If so, what kind of sounds are these and do you have an explanation about the reasons for these responses?

I love this question and not because I have a definitive answer but because I think about it a lot and I love the feeling. But It’s definitely unexplainable.

The closest I’ve come is calling it a perfect storm. It’s the right lyric, on the write note, over the right chord, with the right effect that gets an emotional response from me and it usually hits me out of nowhere.

I think about it when writing all the time, how I could play a g chord and not get anything with what I’m singing but change a voicing or play it on another instrument and it instantly becomes emotionally charged. I think that’s what writing is all about trying to find those little moments.

There can be sounds which feel highly irritating to us and then there are others we could gladly listen to for hours. Do you have examples for either one or both of these?

For me its people playing music out of phone speakers. I don’t know why but the tinnie-ness of it drives me insane. Kind of reminds me of the sound of cymbals on old ripped music downloads where it would be washed out and metallic sounding.

As for listening to hours it’s anything verbed out to be honest. Reverb has my heart. I came across this track called “Green To Blue” by daniel.mp3 that I can have on loop forever.



Are there everyday places, spaces, or devices which intrigue you by the way they sound? Which are these?

Spaces have become such a big thing for me in the writing process during the past couple of years. It’s something I’ve noticed I need to recharge myself creatively, constantly experiencing new spaces. Whether thats the quiet of the cabin I recorded the EP in or the busy street below my apartment window.

In day to day life though I find the coffee shop endlessly fascinating. The conversations and coming and going of people about their daily life

Have you ever been in spaces with extreme sonic characteristics, such as anechoic chambers or caves? What was the experience like?

No never actually. I’ll have to look into this.

What are among your favourite spaces to record and play your music?

The cabin where I just recorded the latest record is definitely my favourite. You don’t realise until you get out of the city just how much extra sound is filling your bandwidth every day until you take it away. Things become clearer, thoughts become longer and you finally have the bandwidth back to see ideas through.

As for my favourite to play my music, a couple years back I got to combine my love of basketball and music and play in a big dark empty basketball hall in Stockholm.

Do music and sound feel “material” to you? Does working with sound feel like you're sculpting or shaping something?

I don’t think I’ve ever thought of it as material to be honest. I’ve kind of always thought of it as a myth that I’m chasing or trying to prove. You have moments of clarity where you’re onto something.

But for the most part it just feels like I’m chasing a feeling I don’t know how to explain or get to, but I’ll know it when I find it.


Hazlett Interview Image by masterduck

How important is sound for our overall well-being and in how far do you feel the "acoustic health" of a society or environment is reflective of its overall health?

It’s something I’ve thought about alot recently particularly after going off the grid in the cabin for the record. I didn’t realise how much sound pollution was part of my life and how much it was putting a haze over me day to day.

So it’s become a big point of emphasis for me to at least find a few moments without sound, music included, to just rest the ears from such direct sound all the time.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds?

Growing up in Australia I never really experienced snow until moving to Sweden, but I used to sit on the computer flicking through nature sounds on Encyclopedia Britannica. I always clicked on “walking through the snow”.

So it was pretty moving just the sounds being in the snow. It’s this kind of quiet that it gives places that are usually louder and it allows nature to be more amplified.

Tinnitus and developing hyperacusis are very real risks for anyone working with sound. Do you take precautions in this regard and if you're suffering from these or similar issues – how do you cope with them?

It’s something I regrettably neglected when I was younger. I played in a lot of rhythm sections and usually next to the drummer without sound protection so I’ve definitely damaged and diminished alot of the frequency range I used to have.

Luckily I have so far escaped things like Tinnitus and am pretty cautious and keep things like my headphone volume and sound exposure in check to hopefully keep my ears healthy for a long time.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

Like I said I’ve become a huge fan of sileence. Especially working with music a lot if you’re constantly taking in things all the time you get a bit of a build of sonic stimulation and things get pretty hazey.

We call them ear cleansers in the studio where we’ll do no music or instruments for a while to reset and come back with a better creative focus.

Seth S. Horowitz called hearing the “universal sense” and emphasised that it was more precise and faster than any of our other senses, including vision. How would our world be different if we paid less attention to looks and listened more instead?

Absolutely. I think there would be a huge difference and for the most part a positive one at that.

I think I heard a quote that says “The eyes deceive you, don’t trust them” which is tough in such an online moving digital world. I know even in my day to day life I notice there’s alot more listening for the turn to talk as opposed to listening for the genuine sake of listening.

So I think that's something we’re all trying to be better at moving forward.