Sluttony’s debut album, “Hazel,” crashes through your speakers like the best loud, emotionally messy, unapologetically femme house party, full of that chaotic charm only a close-knit band of friends can deliver. Formed in the Santa Cruz college scene and now rooted in LA, Sluttony is made up of four powerhouse musicians—Hannah Goodwin, Sabine Hovnanian, Caroline Margolis, and Nina Maravic—who bring rawness, angst, and sharp wit to every chord.
The album kicks off with “Smoke Screen,” a track driven by catchy guitar riffs and confident, hypnotic vocals that flirt with the idea of romantic curiosity turned sour. The lyrics are razor-sharp, “I romanticized what your words mean / Saw through the smoke screen,” and they hit like a journal entry written in the aftermath of a bad crush. But the band rides all this through infectious drums and melody into a space of reclamation and biting self-awareness.
“Tonight My Eyes Are Open” leans into a more introspective mood, with somber guitar lines and a slow-burning tension that builds as the lead vocalist shifts from reflective verses to an exhausted chorus. She sings, “I don’t wanna talk / I don’t wanna fight it anymore.” The haunting harmonies feel like a friend echoing your inner turmoil.
Then comes the title track, “Hazel,” a thunderous, grunge-laced anthem that cements the record’s emotional core. The character Hazel becomes the embodiment of a coming-of-age tension many women face with beauty, expectation, power, and rebellion, wrapped in poetic lines like, “Your own glory to be decided / But even with those scraped up knees, you’ve weathered your storms just as fine.” The eerie yet euphoric chorus and the Radiohead-esque delivery only deepen its complexity.
Sluttony’s “Hazel” is a fiercely honest portrait of young womanhood in all its contradiction and catharsis. Stay tuned to Sluttony for more such music.
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Review by: Naomi Joan