Kevin Bronson on February 17th, 2020

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Hazel English’s campaign for Queen of the Retro Prom is off to a good start, with two of 10 tracks on her forthcoming album “Wake Up!” reporting.

The L.A.-based Australian worked with producers Justin Raisen (Kim Gordon, Kills Birds, Angel Olsen, Sunflower Bean, Miya Folick, Lawrence Rothman, among many others) and Ben H. Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Deerhunter, Neon Indian, et al) on the new album, the first two songs from which sound as if they could have been plucked from the girl-group 1960s or the (original) “indie-pop” movement of the 1980s U.K., or both. The sweetly propulsive “Shaking” simply exudes coyness (“Get down on your hands and knees / Baby beg for me / Tell me that I am your queen / Maybe I’ll set you free”), while Grammy-winning Allen contributes to “Off My Mind.”

The latter finds English, who has acknowledged she suffers from acute anxiety, in a paralyzing stasis. “Take away the thoughts / they hold me back / Try to make a move and take a step / I don’t wanna watch my life just pass me by / Drifting out of consciousness,” she sings dreamily over even dreamier echoing guitars. She says of the song: “‘Off My Mind’ is about feeling stuck in a situation but too afraid to make a move. It’s about the limbo state between where you are and where you want to be.”

Both songs reveal an elevated production game over English’s 2017 EPs, “Just Give In” and “Never Going Home,” yet maintain the songwriter’s flair for simple, direct pop melodies. And as her the video for “Off My Mind” attests, she has a thing for retro culture: She did the video herself from archival footage.

“Wake Up!” is out April 24 via Polyvinyl.

||| Watch: The videos for “Off My Mind” and “Shaking”