Hannah Epperson

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Hannah Epperson (born October 20, 1987 in Salt Lake City ) is an American songwriter , singer and violinist . Their music is a tightrope walk between indie - pop , folk , jazz and neo-classical .

biography

Epperson was born in Salt Lake City in 1987, the youngest of four siblings. She grew up in a musical family and started playing the violin in kindergarten . The choice fell on this instrument because her three older brothers had already "played" other instruments - piano , clarinet and cello - and her parents insisted that she should learn an "equal" instrument. Through an acquaintance with a cowgirl , she made her first major musical progress: “ I met a cowgirl when I was ten [...]. We would go and ride horses and she would teach me fiddle tunes by ear. “
At the age of 13, she and her family moved to Vancouver, Canada in 2001 after her parents, both Mormons , had a falling out with the local church in Salt Lake City and were excommunicated .
After graduating from high school , she began studying human geography at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 2005 . She interrupted it in 2008 to go to Berlin “because of love” , where she made street music with her violin and discovered the Loop Station for herself. After a year that, in retrospect, she found "quite self-destructive," she returned to Vancouver in the summer of 2009 and received her bachelor's degree in human geography from UBC in 2012 . During this time she also made her first own musical productions and recordings with other artists. In addition to her only digitally available Home Batch EP (2011), she can be heard on Miss Emily Brown's (= Emily Millard) album In Technicolor (2010) as well as Kim Churchill's Detail Of Distance (2012). Her later collaboration with the Canadian indie pop and indie folk bands Royal Canoe ( Something Got Lost Between Here And The Orbit , 2016) and Aidan Knight is also worth mentioning . In 2016 she toured Europe with both bands.

Following the release of two EPs and singles ( Burn and Methyl Red 2015) and a move to Brooklyn Epperson brought in autumn 2016 Upsweep her first produced in equal proportions by Ajay Bhattacharya (aka smelt) and Zubin Hensler album on the market and was at the same time on a solo tour through Europe. She then toured Canada. Another solo European tour followed in spring 2017. In the meantime, she went to the studio with the Fleet Foxes to record the album Crack-Up (2017) with them .

In February 2018 she accepted the invitation of the Australian songwriter Ry X and accompanied him as a guest on his "Body Sun" European tour, where she opened his concert evenings and also played with his band. For February and March 2019, she accepted another invitation for his “Unfurl” European tour.

After the release of their second album Slowdown (2018) , this time self-produced , Epperson embarked on an extended solo European tour in the spring, the media highlights of which were appearances in the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and as a musical guest in the ZDF culture magazine aspects . Another solo tour followed in autumn 2018. With the announcement of this concert tour, she also announced that this would be the last tour of this kind for a long time: “ This is likely the last * solo * tour i'll be doing for a long while ".

In addition to her musical career, Hannah Epperson is also active in Ultimate Frisbee , where she took part in the World Championships of Beach Ultimate (WCBU) with the Canadian mixed team in 2015 and 2017 and was runner-up in each case.

Epperson lives in Vancouver, Canada .

Musical style

When asked about her greatest musical influences and the like, Epperson himself a. Björk , Radiohead , Joni Mitchell , Pete Seeger , System of a Down and Pentangle . Rachmaninow , Bartók , Arvo Pärt and JS Bach are close to her in classical music .
She herself does not prefer any particular musical genre: “ I don't know as I've ever felt particularly drawn to any one style or genre over another. “Since their main instrument is the violin, their music is often labeled with the somewhat misleading label“ neoclassical ”. Structurally, however, it remains largely committed to pop, even if it repeatedly breaks through its schemes. The term chamber pop is also used occasionally. Her compositions are those of a songwriter, because she sees herself as a storyteller: “ I feel like the process of being a storyteller, and bringing a world to life, is really enriching. “
Epperson's music is initially based on the composing principle of the song and always uses vocals , although the instrumental part often dominates. Verse and chorus are recurring elements, even if Epperson often does not use them in conventional alternation. In contrast to popular pop music, however, instead of conventional melodies, it uses more detailed compositional elements such as motifs , figures or phrases , which they combine to create sound carpets or layer one on top of the other in the course of a song. In doing so, she uses an idiosyncratic, often tricky rhythm .

Her albums Upsweep (2016) and Slowdown (2018) follow the same concept: they each consist of five songs, which are played once in a more broadly orchestrated, often also more rhythmic, and "Amelia" and a reduced "Iris" version. In the "more dramatic" and "more passionate" "Amelia" versions, drums , piano or synthesizers are used in addition to the violin , while the quieter "Iris" versions are mostly reduced to the interplay of the violin and its fragile, delicate vocals. "Amelia" and "Iris" stand for two opposing characters that she previously invented for a script, and at the same time for " two radically different ways of expressing myself ".

Epperson's lyrics explore the depths of the human psyche and relationships. The song "Brother" (published on Burn- EP 2015), for example, deals with the tragic medical history of her youngest brother, to whom she felt particularly close. But other songs also have political references. The song “We Will Host A Party” takes a critical look at the social and ecological upheavals caused by the 2000 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Conventional love songs cannot be found with her.

Hannah Epperson sees her real destiny in the presentation of her music in front of an audience on stage, which she lived out intensively on many extensive tours until the end of 2018. When asked how best to listen to her music, she replies: “ Live. For sure. “For CBC / Radio-Canada she was already in 2013 “ one of the top artists to watch ” . It is important to her that she and her audience form a unit: “ I think I have a lot of demands of the people who come to the show. It's a very vulnerable show and the line between the performer and the audience is almost non-existent for me. And so it's very important for me that all the people in the room are together with me. “
In her solo concerts (sometimes supported by a drummer) she uses an analog synthesizer as well as a loop station, with the help of which she gradually condenses a multi-layered sound fabric, often up to a climax , before returning to the original motif. Sometimes improvisational elements typical of jazz are also included.

Discography

Albums

  • Upsweep (2016, listenrecords)
  • Slowdown (2018, listenrecords)

Singles & EPs

  • Home Batch EP (2011, digital only, self-published)
  • Burn EP (2015, limited edition vinyl, self-published)
  • Methyl Red (2015, digital only, bandcamp)
  • Raise A White Flag / Dreaming Of A White Christmas (2016, lim.Edition Vinyl, Snowflake Christmas Single Club)

Compilations

  • Various Artists: Canada Ho! Ho! Ho! VIII (2016, digital only, The Line of Best Fit music blog)
  • Various Artists: Hamburger Küchensessions 4 (2017, 2CD, Galley sound products)

With other artists (selection)

  • Miss Emily Brown (Emily Millard): In Technicolor (2010, self-published)
  • Kim Churchill: Detail Of Distance (2012, Indica Records)
  • Morlove: Old Tomorrow (2013, self-published)
  • Said The Whale: Hawaiii (2013, Hidden Pony Records)
  • Royal Canoe: Something Got Lost Between Here And The Orbit (2016, Embassy of Music / Nevado)
  • Fleet Foxes: Crack-Up (2017, Nonesuch Records / Warner)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview with Dave Davies on Whistler Retreats, June 25, 2014
  2. ↑ Eva Umbauer: "Hi, my name is Hannah! I play the violin and frisbee", on Radio FM4, March 1st, 2018
  3. ^ Julian De Backer, "Interview with Hannah Epperson," Keys and Chords, 2018
  4. ^ Scott Abbott: On Ecclesiastical Endorsement at Brigham Young University
  5. ↑ Hannah Epperson on LinkedIn
  6. ↑ Thorsten Glotzmann, "Hannah Epperson - Mystery in the Pacific", Zitty March 26, 2018
  7. ^ Hannah Epperson Claims Center Stage, bandcamp daily, September 22, 2016
  8. ↑ Hannah Epperson on Instagram
  9. ^ Hannah Epperson Claims Center Stage, bandcamp daily, September 22, 2016
  10. ↑ Hannah Epperson on Instagram
  11. ↑ Hannah Epperson on Instagram
  12. ↑ Hannah Epperson on Instagram
  13. ↑ RY X on Instagram
  14. ↑ Hannah Epperson on Instagram
  15. ↑ Hannah Epperson on Instagram
  16. ↑ Elbphilharmonie.de/Programm
  17. ↑ Hannah Epperson on Instagram
  18. ↑ Hannah Epperson on Instagram
  19. ↑ Press portal on aspects of March 9, 2018
  20. ↑ Hannah Epperson on Instagram
  21. ↑ Hannah Epperson on Instagram
  22. ^ World Flying Disc Federation / Events
  23. ^ World Flying Disc Federation / Events
  24. ↑ Hannah Epperson on Twitter, January 6, 2020
  25. ^ Benedikt Duda, "Interview with Hannah Epperson", Semesterspiegel, October 16, 2016
  26. ↑ Gavin Brown Takes On Hannah Epperson | Interview Special, Circuit Sweet, May 16, 2018
  27. ↑ Joshua Smotherman, "Interview with Hannah Epperson - Slowdown," MTM.com February 1, 2018
  28. ^ Norman Fleischer: "A spark in the dark: Hannah Epperson writes the story by her own rules", nbhap.com February 12, 2018
  29. ^ Julian De Backer, "Interview with Hannah Epperson," Keys and Chords, 2018
  30. ^ Norman Fleischer: "A spark in the dark: Hannah Epperson writes the story by her own rules", nbhap.com February 12, 2018
  31. ↑ Thorsten Glotzmann, "Hannah Epperson - Mystery in the Pacific", Zitty March 26, 2018
  32. ^ Julian De Backer, "Interview with Hannah Epperson," Keys and Chords, 2018
  33. ^ Liana Peacock: Interview with Hannah Epperson, Lotus Land, October 2013
  34. ^ Hannah Epperson Claims Center Stage, bandcamp daily, September 22, 2016
  35. ↑ campusradio Jena in conversation with Hannah Epperson, September 16, 2016
  36. ^ "Introducing Interview: Hannah Epperson," Get In Her Ears, January 30, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Epperson, Hannah
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician and singer
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH Salt Lake City