Listen to This Enchanted, a swirling return-to-form by one of Australia's best: Hatchie

Header image by Nick Maguire.

For a couple of years there, Hatchie felt unstoppable. It began when we first caught our eye on the Brisbane-based musician, as she was sharing her debut single Try in 2017. It was a four-minute introduction to the then-rising musician and her charming dream-pop art, capturing the heights of her swirling sound that would later be toppled by a string of singles eventually leading to the release of her debut EP Sugar & Spice in 2018; a five-track EP that encapsulated the rush of Hatchie's entrance to Australian music, and the contrastingly subtle music she used to pave her way.

Then, in 2019, came the release of her debut album Keepsake. It was an album that felt like Hatchie's long-deserved moment, capturing the rich intensity of her sound and the star-gazing lyricism that made her music so warmly comforting and familiar, a combination that Hatchie was very quickly beginning to trademark as her own. We named Keepsake one of the year's best albums, as did nearly everyone else under the sun; the record lifting Hatchie up to enormous heights, even internationally, where she began to grapple with the title of Australia's next breakthrough artist.

Keepsake was an album that seemed to open every possible door for Hatchie, but rather than take advantage of the sudden success, she instead seemingly took a step back, entering a two-year period of quietness that would only end today. Between Keepsake's arrival and now, she's been busy working on what's next, taking the time away from touring to deepen her sound, collaborate with touring band member RINSE on an album of his own, and sign a label deal with Secretly Canadian, who now boast Hatchie as a signing outside of Australia.

Now, comes the first piece of work from Hatchie post-Keepsake, arriving today in the form of This Enchanted. It's a dizzying return to form by Hatchie which re-introduces her musicianship and the personality she's long shown through it; the song welcoming touches of evolution within its fibres but, for the most part, being an extension of the peaks of her sound, welcoming it back into the conversation while showing that it can go even further - find even stronger glory - especially after two years away from the limelight.

"This Enchanted encapsulates everything I wanted to do moving forward from my first album. I started writing it with Jorge and Joe in February 2020 and completed it from afar in lockdown later in the year. We had been talking about making something dancey but shoegaze," she says on the single. "It's one of the more lighthearted, lyrically vague songs of my new recordings about falling in love; it's not a perfect relationship, but you're enthralled by one another and it's an easy love."

As she explains, it becomes clear that This Enchanted is a taste of more to come; a new record on the way showing how Hatchie has blossomed in the confusing and chaotic years since Keepsake. "It's one of the most fun songs I've written, so it was a no-brainer to pick it as my first solo release in almost two years," she continues. "It feels so right to be working with a label as exciting as Secretly as I step into new territory with Hatchie. I've been counting down the days until its release for a long time."

Well, stop counting. After two years, Hatchie is finally back, and with a return heralded by This Enchanted, it almost feels like she never left. Watch the single's official video clip below:

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