* En anglais uniquement
With a soft and mysterious sound that balances perfectly between shoegaze atmosphere, dream pop sweetness, and the introspective nature of singer/songwriters,
Tanukichan is the project of multi-instrumentalist
Hannah van Loon.
Northern California native
van Loon began her music career with the band
Trails and Ways in 2012. The group members met while attending the University of California, Berkeley, and wove a thick strand of world music into their indie pop sound.
Van Loon played lead guitar and keyboards for the group, which released a trio of EPs followed by the 2015 album
Pathology.
Van Loon left the group the next year to focus on her own music, which she made under the name
Tanukichan. She started working on demos by herself, and released the song "Bitter Medicine" in May of 2016. After a friend --
Anthony Ferraro of the band
Astronauts, etc. -- introduced her to
Toro y Moi's Chaz Bear, she began to collaborate with other musicians on new songs. She took her live band, which comprised drummer Aaron Gold and bassist Scott Brown, both of
Astronauts, etc., to Bear's home studio and laid down four tracks that soon became the
Radiolove EP, which was released by Bear's Company Records in August of 2016.
Van Loon went a different route for
Tanukichan's first full-length album, working with Bear exclusively. The pair holed up in Bear's studio and went about crafting an intimate shoegaze album that relied on drum machines, airy synths, intricately noisy guitars, and
van Loon's light-as-fresh-snow vocals.
Van Loon titled the album
Sundays, because to her it captured the dreamily reflective feel of a Sunday afternoon. Bear released the album on Company Records in July of 2018, just as
Tanukichan headed out on a short tour of the U.S. ~ Tim Sendra