Hazlett’s latest album “last night you said you missed me” marks a turning point for the Sweden-based, Australian singer-songwriter. After the warm reception of 2024’s “Goodbye to the Valley Low” and a grueling but successful North American tour, this 10-track collection stands as his most personal statement yet.

The album’s origin story is almost mythic in its simplicity. Bedridden with illness over the holidays, exhausted from months of constant touring, Hazlett was ready for a break. But when he walked past his guitar one day, a song just happened. That moment of creative accident became the foundation for an album he had to make, rest be damned.

Working mostly from instinct rather than calculation, Hazlett crafted what he calls “sonic postcards” brief, emotionally charged pieces that tackle distance, longing, self-preservation, and tentative hope. It’s the work of someone processing a difficult year, sometimes discovering what he was feeling only after hearing the songs back for the first time. The nomadic aspect of Hazlett’s life, splitting time between Sweden and Australia, always somewhat displaced, bleeds into every corner of these songs. With over 500 million streams and a standout performance at BST Hyde Park alongside Noah Kahan, he’s found his audience, but “last night you said you missed me” feels like him finding himself.

With the LP now out Hazlett’s tells all about how these ten tracks work individually and collectively to create one of the year’s most emotionally honest albums.

doing my best

This is the song that started it all for the album. An accident almost. I was off the back of being on the road non stop and bed ridden sick over the holidays. Ready for a rest and to step away for a while I walked past my guitar one day and this song poured out of me. Deep down I knew there was no time for rest or to even go home and see my family. There was alot going on that needed to be written about. But for me this was the “sun song” on this record that everything else orbits around.

blue jean

I’ve lead a pretty nomadic life to this point. It’s been more about solitude and being away from alot of my deep connections more than I care to admit. Call it self sabotage or sacrificing the now for the future, this was a pretty brutally honest look in the mirror trying to decide what it’s all been for.

mountain of a memory

Maybe one of my most proud songs on the record. It was almost this cathartic release of things of the past year that had been built up. Equal parts wallowing in what wasn’t and also embracing what is beyond my comprehension or control.

queen of the season

For the most part this album came together in less than a month. Once I knew there was that indescribable creative nudge in me I felt at times like I was writing for my sub-conscious. Not thinking, just expressing. It wasn’t until I got the first mixes back that it hit me in a way that I wasn’t prepared for. The fist version of this song came in so I listened and I sobbed. I’ve never done that before. I realised some of the things I was going through last year were pretty heavy and I hadn’t looked them in the eye just yet.

fast like you

I suppose I would consider myself a late bloomer. I actually didn’t start singing until my mid twenties. So I feel this constant chip on my shoulder that I need to catch up with everyone and make up for lost time. I could never tell if I’ve just always been comfortable being in the background or if it was because I’m scared of what could happen if I stepped forward.

tell me something

This song hits my chest like a truck. Sonically it was on the far end of the idea for this record, about stepping forward and making a little more noise for a change. Emotionally though this was a rough ride of feeling things fall apart and knowing damn well it’s for the best. That doesn’t stop that pull though of wanting to say the things that you know could make it feel better, even just for a moment.

last night you said you missed me

Probably the most fun to record on the record. We were on the west coast in Sweden in this big old building where they record orchestras. But instead it was just me, Freddy and a whole bunch of instruments. Getting back to basics of playing things, having fun. That kind of energy spilled over into the song in a weird coming of age moment of letting go and rolling with the punches

february

This was a voice memo that was living on my phone from the top of the year. It just had this opening riff and the slow gear wind down that kept coming back to me. As the record took shape it found its safe space as a tender little interlude that feels some kind of sincere goodbye you rarely ever get to say.

i don’t want your garden

Each record I think has one moment that nearly didn’t make. And the song I affectionately like to call “garden” is definitely that. The idea of a yelling in a song or even having quick thumping landscape goes against my base state of wanting to blend into the background or not to annoy people by making a lot of noise or taking up too much space. But it became a pivotal piece of the story of the record so I’m glad it didn’t end up left on a hard drive gathering dust. Which is fitting given the track revolves around the sentiment of “what is meant for you will always find a way and what isn’t will always pass you by.

lasso song

For a song about holding on while you say farewell, there was no other place for this song than to close out the record. Tying it all together, no pun intended. All things come to an end at some point. Sometimes it’s too early, other times you don’t see it coming. You can drag the goodbye along if you want and it may feel like you’ve beaten the odds. But I think what’s meant to be will always find a way. So even if the goodbyes coming at least we can enjoy what we have right now.

“last night you said you missed me” is out now, for more info visit www.hazlett.ffm.to