Deeply evocative and visceral, the debut from Girl Hazel is a wistful reflection with an abundance of wisdom and maturity.

With a name like Girl Hazel prompting thoughts of a girl-next-door character, it’s perhaps unsurprising that we do feel a deep sense of familiarity and comfort as we listen to the band’s debut single Ohio. Despite being the band’s debut single, the warming accompaniment, dissipating cymbals and tender vocals of Ohio makes it feel like you’ve finally found a lifeline and a place to rest your weary soul.

Describing themselves as “steadily sputtering, like an unattended pot of water. An LA-based, wistful, catchy, emotionally ass-kicking pot of water”, Girl Hazel consists of four individuals, all willing to share their experiences and pour their innermost feelings into creating deeply affecting music.

Ohio is a cinematic sonic journey, basking you in a wistful and musing nostalgia with its tenderly plucked guitars and rolling thunder that contrasts against the airy vocals to create a filling texture that seeps into every fibre of your being.

Speaking more on the track, the band explains:

Held a careful distance from the chest, Girl Hazel’s single ‘Ohio’ lives in a series of poems written from a mother to her child abroad. She writes supportively, but full of regret: of the constant cycle of hurt and heal in the summer sun, the wither and fall of autumn time leaves, and the warm but distant crackle of New Year’s fireworks. In every nostalgic plea to her child, ‘Ohio’ speaks as much through longing as it does solemn acceptance.