After years of playing in bars in his native Australia, Hazlett’s unique brand of “Indie Ballroom Folk” only became crystallized after a chance encounter during a runaway trip to Sweden. It was there he found the fabled collaborator chemistry in close friend Freddy Alexander. A lot has changed since then and what started as just writing songs to “figure out some things in his head…” has now become a whole world of music and beautiful details to move through. Emphasized by the release of his debut album Bloom Mountain in early 2023.

His propensity for figuring things out himself and turning chaos into some kind of nostalgic lesson hasn’t gone unnoticed either, with The Line of Best Fit noting that "Hazlett is offering up a hazy, textured version of the classic singer-songwriter" Even though the nerves never quite go away, there’s this newfound quiet confidence to the troubadour from the land down under. You may not have met, but sometimes when you’re listening to Hazlett he feels like the only friend you’ve ever had.

Turning on a Hunter Metts song is like stepping into a colorful, cathartic world made just for two: His gentle indie folk music wraps around the ears and soul like a blanket – cozy and soft, ethereal and comforting, all coming from and speaking to a tender, aching heart. Authenticity is paramount for the artist and producer, for whom songwriting is as much a means of survival as it is one of artistic self-expression.

“I’m not sitting down to make music for a playlist,” he says. “This is what I want to say, this is how I want to say it; I hope people relate to it, but at the same time it’s not crafted for that.”

Born into a musical family in Nashville, Tennessee, Metts began playing instruments from a young age, gravitating toward avant folk artists like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes in his teenage years. He fell hard and fast for artists like The Paper Kites, Gregory Alan Isakov, and Lord Huron, whose intentional lyrics and sweet, harmony-rich music became his north stars as he discovered his own voice and stepped into his own distinct folk identity. Yet it wasn’t until he spent a few years in the workforce as a coder that Metts realized the nine-to-five cubicle life wasn’t for him, and he embarked on a music career . He unveiled his debut single “The River” in 2021 and has been releasing a steady stream of songs ever since, finally quitting his day job to pursue music full time in 2023.

After the release of his 2024 debut EP Monochrome, a powerful introduction to his intimate and eclectic artistry, Metts traveled to Colorado to work on a new body of work with producer Andrew Berlin. From that came the recent release “Weathervane,” showcasing the positive aspects of an honest love. The deeply intimate yet widely relatable song is about always making it through whatever life throws at you, and trusting that home doesn’t always have to be a physical space, but a person too.

“Weathervane is about an honest love at its core,” says Metts. “I’ve been through a course of struggles in my relationship, but at the end of the day, we’ve always had enough trust in each other to make it through whatever life throws our way.”