In the manner of a typical character from some classic anti-consumerism novel, Australian-raised, Sweden-based singer-songwriter Mitchell Hazlett Lewis once worked as “a shitty graphic designer turned copywriter” at an advertising agency, was “playing ‘Wonderwall’ in pubs back home a few nights a week”. A songwriter for hire and touring bassist at the time, he chose to pursue a white-collar career to secure a steady income and lead an ordinary life.
However, thanks to a breakup, an encouraging mum, and a friend working in publishing in Stockholm, Hazlett gave his dream another shot. This led to the breakthrough 2019 singles ‘Fireworks’ and ‘Monsters’, the 2020 EP Thundering Hopes, and finally, his debut full-length Bloom Mountain in 2023. After about 10 years of professional dedication to music, he has amassed nearly 3 million monthly listeners on Spotify and found himself in write-ups from prominent publications like The Line of Best Fit, Clash, and NME.
That said, the most exciting part of his oeuvre has taken place over the past two years. In 2023, he released the first part of Goodbye to the Valley Low project, and this year is concluding with its sequel, released under the same name but with the prefix Side B. Hazlett’s debut offering was a solid folk record featuring hits like the piercing ‘My Skin’ and ‘Please Don’t Be’, yet his earlier music was too radio-friendly and polished. It clearly sounded like a Bon Iver B-side and was easily comparable to Hozier and other folk-pop analogues that quickly come to mind.
More raw and unpolished, Goodbye to the Valley Low (Side A) broke this pattern. What’s even more noteworthy is that its lead single, ‘Blame the Moon’, became the first track in his career to make it onto the radio. Its follow-up, Goodbye to the Valley Low (Side B), came out nearly a year later, but these EPs are best considered together as a cohesive musical diptych. Embracing a more dreamy and hazy approach to his vocals and guitar, Hazlett reached a new level, showing more self-assurance in the face of mass opinion.
Hazlett still risks being likened to Fleet Foxes or, say, Iron & Wine at times. This is especially noticeable on ‘Mamas Boy’, where you subconsciously expect their signature 2010s indie folk howling to come in. Nonetheless, he manages, as Hua Hsu might say, to stay true to himself. This approach combines seamlessly with the ersatz Phoebe Bridgers’ gentle strums in ‘Slow Running’ and the slight twang in ‘Cemetery’. In ‘Stolen Seasons’, he even manages to bring all these elements together effortlessly in a single track.
By the latest EP, he no longer hesitates to show more drive and confidence, which is evident from the get-go. On ‘Bones Shake’, he dramatically howls with such a sharpened depth and trembling emotion rarely found in the playbook of his genre peers that it’s hard not to feel your bones shake. While the instrumentals generally remain on the same level, his vocals have grown more distinctive and self-assured, which is especially clear in ‘The First Train Home’.
With such a whirlwind of emotions and poppiness, Hazlett sometimes veers toward Taylor Swift-evoking vocals, as in ‘Shiver’, indicating that his music is crafted to resonate in much wider spaces and that he himself is ready for much larger stages. Though he convinces us with the Goodbye to the Valley Low dilogy that he’s a folk musician to the core, he’s actually throwing a bit of dust in our eyes, as it’s highly apparent that he wants — and is capable of being— much more than just another singer-songwriter.
The true standout of this, let’s call it, double-sided record is atmospheric and haunting ‘Do You Haunt Me’, filled with barely audible references to many indie folk influences and a style vaguely reminiscent of Christian Lee Hutson or even Noah Kahan’s quiet, handcrafted approach. It perfectly shows that Hazlett is overflowing with energy and ideas, poised to become the next big deal with a dizzying trajectory of evolution from pubs to stadiums.
