Ears Wide Open: Hana Vu
Kevin Bronson on
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Seventeen-year-old Hana Vu’s bedroom pop is at once understated and overwhelming, her veneer of impassive equipoise belying the sophistication of the songs she writes and produces. The L.A.-based singer-songwriter has been putting her DIY creations on Soundcloud and Bandcamp since she was 13. She released a full-length in 2016 that featured an appearance by Willow Smith, whom Vu had met while performing at an art gallery in Santa Monica.
Vu’s self-released single “Crying on the Subway” — and its Young Park-directed video — grabbed the attention of Luminelle Recordings, the Fat Possum-affiliated imprint launched last year by the folks behind the blog Gorilla vs. Bear. Luminelle will release Vu’s new EP, “How Many Times Have You Driven By,” on June 29. “Crying” is the lead track. “In my dreams I’m in that grey room / In my chest I’m feeling dark blue / Take the Red Line into downtown / I’m trying to escape you,” Vu sings plaintively to start the song, an attention-grabbing verse even without the video.
On Wednesday, Vu unveiled the new single “Shallow,” a heady song she calls “part social commentary, part self-analysis.
“Our superficial perceptions allow us to subconsciously categorize ourselves among or above others,” she told FADER, where the song premiered. “In this song I explore a sort of egotistical alter-ego that I imagine everyone experiences, and reveal the true fear behind it.”
||| Stream: “Shallow”
||| Also: Stream “Cool (feat. Satchy)”
||| Also: Watch the video for “Crying on the Subway”
||| Live: Hana Vu plays the Music Tastes Good festival in Long Beach on Sept. 30. Info/tickets.
[…] Vu vaulted to a place high on the list of high-achieving teenagers last summer when she released the EP “How Many Times Have You Driven By,” a work of keen insight and undeniable musicality. The EP also led to the discovery of the audacious […]