If 'Giving The World Away' was Hatchie's big pop pivot – all gloss, grandeur, and studio muscle – then 'Liquorice' is her soft reboot. Gone are the Dan Nigro co-writes and LA sheen. In their place? A backyard, a digital camera, and songs that sound like they were dreamt up while staring at the ceiling.
This is Hatchie at her most relaxed, and arguably, her most Hatchie. Written with longtime collaborator Joe Agius and produced by Jay Som's Melina Duterte, it's a record that feels like a deep exhale, the kind you only manage after burning out and moving back in with your parents. Which is, incidentally, exactly what she did.
Sonically, it's a return to her shoegazey roots – less 'synth-pop girly', more Cocteau Twins in a sunhat. 'Only One Laughing' and 'Someone Else's News' could've slipped out of the 'Keepsake' era, but there's a grown-up glow to it all now. Even when she's singing in her "Gallagher voice" on 'Lose It Again', there's a self-awareness that stops it ever tipping into pastiche.
Lyrically, it's full of small-but-massive moments. Fleeting crushes, imagined romances, feelings that take up more emotional real estate than they have any right to. There's heartbreak in the mix, but it doesn't wallow.
The secret weapon here is how charming it all is. 'Liquorice' is warm, likeable and just eccentric enough to keep you leaning in. No reinvention. No high drama. Just ten songs made with care and clarity, and a quiet confidence that comes from creating something for yourself first.
Hatchie's not trying to be anything other than who she is. And that, it turns out, is more than enough.
