Review Summary: All the best parts of the bedroom producer decade, all wrapped up in an iridescent, crystalline package, with 16.8 million colors to boot.
HANA’s full length debut
HANADRIEL wastes no time encompassing the listener in what feels like a fully realized vision; a product long incubated and infused with myriad vibrant influences. After metamorphosing from small town acoustic singer/songwriter Hana Pestle into a neon-blooded cyber-siren, HANA took some time to discover her newfound identity. Releasing her eponymous debut EP in 2016—an already refined collection of five solid tracks—HANA hit the road with friend and fellow digital diva Grimes, steadily expanding her creative repertoire and talents as a performer. After a full three years, HANA finally put her ideas to tape (or chip, rather) in the most quintessentially millennial way: by live streaming the entire album-creation process.
It’s been said not to judge a book by it’s cover—an elementary suggestion. That’s what the cover is for! To give you a glimpse of the pallette of what you’re about to experience. With
HANADRIEL, HANA is comfortable being direct: the title is a portmanteau of her name and the name of Galadriel, the telepathic Lady of Light, and royal elf, from
Lord of the Rings. The cover image follows suit: depicting HANA clad in futuristic elf-princess cosplay in a radiant, blue and pink street scene, surrounded by scintillating flora growing among the gleaming sci-fi structures.
Album opener “Satellite” feels like a natural continuation of the sound established on her initial EP. HANA prefaces the album by reassuring us of her artistic confidence, singing “I am flying on my own / I am fine, it’s all I know.” Not to dismiss her aspirations for creative autonomy, she ponders, “Am I willing to fall in line or make it mine?” But she’s resolute: “So here I go, I’m crystalline.” The following tracks continue the theme. “Arcane Magic” starts with a modest beat before a layer of sizzling synths, akin to those found in
Blade Runner (
2049, to be exact), starts to permeate and build tension. Later, “Creatura” shows HANA flexing her vocal talents, her voice soaring high above the mix and taking all the energy with her, culminating in something that would fit snugly on a playlist nestled between Lisa Gerrard and Anna von Hausswolff.
A full length release facilitates more room for experimentation, something HANA is apt to make use of. She incorporates jagged and overdriven instrumentation into “Anxious Alien,” crooning her way through the verses with a distorted yet sublime vocal delivery reminiscent of PJ Harvey’s “Crawl Home” from Desert Sessions’
Vol. 9 & 10. The beats are driving, dancy and glitchy, and draw from a long lineage of artists inspired by Nine Inch Nails (in terms of energy; sonically, the production is far from the laser-precise fidelity Trent has mastered). The percussion layering in “ORCA” nods respectfully towards NIN’s “Copy of a.”
The album’s peak is, without a doubt, the wonderful, heartbreakingly beautiful “Cowgirl Bebop,” an homage to—in addition to the legendary anime—HANA’s earlier days dabbling in Americana. Seeing this song’s title in the track list made this reviewer giddy with excitement, but also skepticism. Such a direct reference to something so beloved sets a high bar. Alas, the song delivers! With a melody sweet as honey and some refreshingly light acoustic arrangements, HANA succeeds in channeling an emotionally honest and poignantly vulnerable song that would put a smile on Julien Baker’s face.
HANA’s latest manages to maintain an impressively original sound, driven by her unique sense of melody. In an otherwise saturated musicsphere where originality is hard to come by,
HANADRIEL leaves a distinct impression and represents a culmination of what a truly talented bedroom producer can become.
See You Space Siren...
