HANA: “The whole music world has exploded for me”

"Just yesterday I was looking at our touring schedule. We’ve been going so hard since January and a lot of the days, I’ve been doing two shows a day. It’s just been such a blur,” admits HANA. After fifteen years of playing under her full name and at every opportunity with nothing but her acoustic guitar, she took a step back in 2013 to take stock. Delving into production and learning how use it in a creative way, she reappeared last summer with ‘Clay’.

One year on and she’s sat on a beanbag, backstage at Positivus. She’s already performed her own set and there’s just time for food before playing alongside Grimes. In the past twelve months HANA has also toured with Lana Del Rey, been bigged up by Lorde and released a self-titled EP. There hasn’t been much room to adjust, but that’s just fine. “This definitely feels like me, 100%. Previously, I had a hard time getting the recorded music sounding exactly like I wanted it. Now, the whole music world has exploded for me. It feels free, purely fun and I finally feel artistically fulfilled.”

With her debut EP, HANA put herself out there. Musically and lyrically, she bared all. The reaction has been just as full on. “I’ve got a lot of emails and letters from a lot of young girls who say that it helped them either get out of a bad relationship or become a more assertive person and really, that’s the top of my hope for these songs because they have a pretty specific meaning behind them. It’s really cool that my music is affecting people in that way and it makes me want to make more.”

[sc name="pull" text="I need to get get back in my creative cocoon."]

In working with Blood Diamonds and touring with Grimes, HANA has quickly established a creative network who get what she’s about. Those relationships have pushed her forward to where she is now and supported her every step of the way. “It inspired me to keep working, keeping writing and keep digging. I’m always learning things from all of them because, even though I have been doing this for a very long time, it was always a very DIY setup, me, my car and my guitar, which is pretty simple. Now my setup and sound is a totally different, but they’ve been really helpful in guiding me.”

Despite the gruelling tour schedule, the double duty and all this new discovery, HANA is still hugely excited. “By the end of the day, I’m spent but it’s the best kind of tired. I’m playing my music, seeing the world and I get to play a show with my best friend at the end of night and that’s so much fun. At the end of the night, I’m exhausted but so fulfilled. I’m so tired but so full of good energy.” [sc name="stopper"]