Photo by Brendan Nakahara

Artist: Tanukichan, the band moniker of songwriter Hannah Van Loon

Location: Oakland, CA

Buzz: Hannah van Loon’s relationship with music can be seen and, for that matter, heard as an outlet of escapism dating back to her early years when she’d retreat to her bedroom with a guitar and alternative FM signals. Both would in turn become her greatest teachers moving forward. In a multiverse of modern day shoegaze, dream-pop, and college rock that focuses much too often on superficial textures to a create a vibe, van Loon’s meditation of it as Tanuchikan is building her own world where emotions sync into her mood board with deeper hues of color, creating a warping physical experience that feels like its changing something inside of you. Perhaps that’s because GIZMO, Tanukichan’s long-awaited sophomore effort, challenges van Loon to find inspiration in good things in spite of heavier realities: The album being named after van Loon’s dog and a realization that — especially during recent years where isolation posed its own set of challenges — escaping isn’t always the only way out. Sometimes sitting with your feelings and looking to the next day can get you further.

Sound: Sound and electrical waves from beyond this universe’s periphery being transmitted through the glow of someone’s aura.

Recommended: “Been Here Before”, “Make Believe”, and the Enumclaw-featuring “Thin Air” off this year’s sophomore album, GIZMO, and her new single, “NPC”

Directed by: Joe Lyle

Tanukichan’s GIZMO is available now on Company Records.