S.Lo on March 15th, 2018

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If Chapterhouse, Cocteau Twins, Saint Etienne, Slowdive and the Sundays had a love child together and gave it shoes worthy of gazing at (vintage Doc Martens) and a guitar with built-in jangly 7th-chord reverb (like a Rickenbacker) when they came of age, you’d get Hatchie. 

There’s also that voice, a reincarnated blend of Harriet Wheeler for its brightness and Elizabeth Fraser for its dreamy soprano harmonies and colorful flicks in chorus melodies. Those with a nose for ’80s- and ’90s-era dreampop-indie-shoegaze will instantly recognize the lineage. 

Unmistakable and addictively sweet, Hatchie, aka Harriette Pilbeam, arrives upon our shores fresh from Brisbane, Australia. She’s stepped forward as a solo artist after plying her trade in local hometown bands such as Go Violets and Babaganouj. Explaining her own approach to songwriting: “I really love writing pop songs, but then messing them up and turning them into something else. Something darker.” 

It seems to be a good combination, with her first two singles, “Try” and “Sure”, catching fire within days after she uploaded them to Australia’s Triple J Unearthed site, where new artists Down Under share their work. With its bold swaths of willowy synths, “Try” is a gorgeous exploration of the desire to slumber in the heat that then tumbles into a soaring acknowledgment of the desire for greater things (however specific or general is left open). “Sure” is pure Madchester-Britpop-new wave-shoegaze bliss in its layered leanings about uncertainty in relationships (dreampop’s answer to The Clash’s “Should I Stay Or Should I Go”). It’s neither here nor there, actually, as the talented multi-instrumentalist is leaving herself plenty of room to grow as she lifts anchor from her hometown, “I feel like I’m only just beginning to really assert myself in the world and the Hatchie project has forced me to reassess and make so many positive changes,” she says.  

Hatchie’s debut EP “Sugar & Spice” will be released this spring on Double Double Whammy in the U.S. and Heavenly Recordings the rest of the world.

||| Watch: The video for “Try”
 

||| Also: Watch the video for “Sure”

||| Also: Stream “Sure (Robin Guthrie Remix)”

||| Live: Hatchie performs Monday night at It’s a School Night at Bardot. RSVP