Amelia Murray, who goes by her stage name Fazerdaze, is coming home. Sort of.

New Zealand-born singer-songwriter will be taking Asia this month, after weeks of touring across Europe and the UK, wrapping up at Pitchfork Festival London. Performing at the TRIFECTA Music Festival in Singapore and Joyland Jakarta in Jakarta, Indonesia, the 'Come Apart' act says she's looking forward to her first-ever festival experiences in the Southeast Asian cities.

Being part Indonesian, Amelia always looks forward to returning to Asia, which she shares always reminds her of home and family. Ahead of her festival stints in the region, we speak to the artist about returning to the music scene after a long Break,  touring as an "adult," developing healthier habits on the road, and finally meeting fellow New Zealand homie, Phum Viphurit.

You've been touring quite a bit this year, performing across the UK and Europe, and playing at Pitchfork Festival and SXSW Sydney. Now you've got a bunch of festival dates coming up with TRIFECTA in Singapore and Joyland Jakarta. What's it like being back on the road for extensive periods of time after being in lockdown and taking a break from music?

It's taken a lot of readjusting, to be honest. readapting to the faster pace. it's been really rewarding and fun. but initially, it was a big shock to the system. it was quite overstimulating to play at a different venue, a different city, every night. meeting all these people afterwards and then, off to the next place.

but then, there's also a really healthy side to it like. I think when I spend too much time at home, it's easy to get in my head. but when I'm on the road, things are changing and happening, and I'm having all these new experiences. it forces me to live in the moment and not overthink things. I don't have time to get nervous before the show. I've just got to get onstage and do it. it's been really healthy for me.

What do you think has changed and what has remained the same in your touring practices or habits?

Now, I really feel like I'm an adult. [The] last time I was touring, I was still coming into adulthood. And now, I feel very much like an adult. I'm a lot more gentle in how I treat myself. I don't put too much expectation on myself when I'm on the road. I think when I was younger, I thought I needed to be hyperproductive. Like, every show had to be good. Now, I'm a lot more accepting of the ebbs and flows. good shows and not-so-great shows. I'm not so hard on myself anymore. I kind of roll with it a lot more now.

I'm also a bit healthier, in the sense that I bring a yoga mat when I'm on tour now. 

How do you prepare for a festival show versus your own headlining show?

There's not so much difference except that the changeover is really fast in between. I guess I'm just more mentally prepared for a fast changeover. also things like with a headline show you've got a lot of time to make sure it sounds good onstage. whereas in a festival show, sometimes it's like "Woah, Inovem can't hear my vocals" but we just roll with it

What are you looking forward to the most in visiting Singapore and Jakarta this month?

I'm always so excited for the food. Big time. My mum is Indonesian, so I grew up with a lot of Indonesian cooking. So every time I go back to Jakarta, the food reminds me of home and family. I'm also really excited about seeing friends in each city and the festivals themselves. I've never played a festival in Singapore or Jakarta. So this is really exciting for me.

You’ll be playing alongside regional and local acts at the festival, are you looking forward to seeing anyone in particular on the lineup? 

I'm really looking forward to seeing Ruel. I was listening to his music quite a bit a couple of years ago. I think that would be really cool. Phum Viphurit. I'd like to meet him. The music that I've heard from him, I loved. But I don't know a lot of the local acts at TRIFECTA Music Festival yet, so I'm always just looking forward to discovering bands. 

At Joyland, it's such a great lineup. I love Benny Sings and Homeshake. The Beths, they're from New Zealand, it would be nice to catch up with them. I love White Chorus. I played a show with them at my Jakarta show last time. I'm really looking forward to catching up with them.

You released your latest EP, Break! last year. You mentioned how the album is about "surrender and acceptance of ugly truths". How does it feel to have the songs out in the world, sharing your experiences as a person and as a musician through music? 

It feels great to have the songs out. It feels really good to share what I went through without giving too much of my privacy away. It's just good to talk about stuff openly. It's easy to kind of close off myself from the world and pretend everything's okay. It's so scary to be so vulnerable, but also so rewarding. I've gotten so many messages from people sharing their experiences. Feels good to share the music and brave. I just feel really proud of myself for working through what I needed to work through to put out that music.

You also released a new single Bigger recently, can u tell us more about that?

Bigger is a bit of a departure from the Break EP. I'm kind of gently moving the fans in a different direction now. Sonically, the direction sounds a lot more cinematic and dreamy. I guess a lot wider? There's a lot of width to it. The song is a love song, but it also talks about ambition. The tension between your dreams and the person you love and how you try to work things out.

Would you say this is a preview of something... bigger in the works?

I would say yes it's headed to that way.

 What's your favourite song of 2023 so far, and why?

One song that I really love, it's just a bit more. Vagabon. 'Can I Talk My Shit?' I just love everything about it. I think it's my favourite song this year. It just got an incredible feeling. The production is so slick. The delivery is so effortless. It just sounds like a classic song to me.

Fazerdaze is performing at Singapore's TRIFECTA Music Festival on 18-19 November 2023 alongside the likes of Ruel, Phum Viphurit, Lola Amour, Forests, Subsonic Eye, and more. Find out more here.