Music
Metamorphosis is never simple. It’s the end of a phase and a new beginning; a continuation of life and at the same time the emergence of a new one. That is the challenge Hana Lili is meeting with enthusiasm.
The Welsh-born, Welsh-bred and Welsh-speaking artist is discovering the joys of artistic development, finding out how to let her music speak for itself and form a conduit for her ideas and feelings.
“The music’s evolved as it’s gone on. I feel more connected to what I do now – more than ever,” Hana says, reflecting on her journey as she prepares to release her (partly) eponymous EP, ‘Hana’.
“A big part of my music from the start of Hana Lili has always been about being true to myself and not trying to do it for any other reason than the fact I love making music,” she says. “It’s my way of being able to tell the things I feel – because I’m not always the greatest at talking about it in real life!”
“With this EP, for the first time I’ve allowed myself to not have things figured out so much and not always have a formulaic answer for why I feel a certain way,” she continues. “This EP’s all about [being] good enough as you are … Just focus on trying to make the music you want to make and stop trying to kind of have it all together.”
Hana’s choice of an eponymous title for the EP came after she discovered the liberating creative freedom that results from putting aside image and no longer seeking the approval of others.
“It’s about being me – and that’s messy sometimes,” she says.
Hana is the definition of someone who grew up immersed in music. As a child, she performed songs at the Eisteddfod; as a teenager, she began to write her own songs, driven by a need to form her own musical identity.
“I’ve been notoriously bad at talking about my feelings; I think I’ve never really allowed myself to take up that space in conversation with people,” she reflects. “So when I was 13 songwriting felt like the appropriate outlet, instead of just talking to people. I remember one evening picking up a guitar, teaching myself to play very badly, and then writing a song over it.”
Having Welsh as her first language gave Hana a different perspective on language.
“Sometimes writing in English is quite fun – I can think about it slightly differently than if it’s my first language… The sound of words resonate before the meaning,” she says.
Hana is keen to shout out the “really cool community” of modern bands writing and performing in the Welsh language, including Adwaith, Breichiau Hir and Gwilym. It is bands like those that have given young people the space to enjoy music in the Welsh language, and have been a great inspiration, Hana says.
“The Welsh language scene is a big part of what I’ve learnt,” she says. “I’ve had ample opportunity to perform in Welsh, chat on the radio in Welsh… you really get to learn so much about yourself. Those opportunities don’t really exist in the same way outside of Wales.”
Thanks to support from projects such as Forte, Hana was able to connect with other Welsh musicians and perform in different genres in grassroots venues across Wales. Lockdown allowed Hana to focus purely on making music, and brought the ‘Hana Lili’ project into being. Her newest material seeks to express that sense of creative purity.
“It’s all about: ‘You’re good enough as you are, and you don’t need anything frivolous or fancy around you to make it anything more than just about the music,’” she explains.
Creating the EP allowed the singer-songwriter to return to her first love: the unfiltered rawness and realism of the pre-smartphone, pre-social media, pre-24/7-online era that produced ’90s rock.
“Weirdly my music has done this kind of 360 back to the music I’ve always listened to as a child. Growing up I was obsessed with Nirvana, The Cardigans, Radiohead, No Doubt, Deftones… those bands I found on CDs in drawers in our house,” she says. “The music just feels like it’s come back around to what I’ve always been obsessed with.
“Maybe it’s because of the day and age we’re in where everything is so perfect all the time online, it’s quite refreshing to be like, ‘Actually I’d rather be a little bit less put together.’”
So, songs such as ‘Sick Of Myself’ see Hana taking up space with her own feelings and thereby allowing other people permission to feel theirs, she says.
Although the EP was recorded in a studio in Hastings, Hana explains how each of its tracks had a different genesis and went through a different process.
“‘Ur Girlfriend’s a Lawyer’ was a track that existed as a couple of melodies and production, but the lyrics and most of the melody didn’t exist for a really long while… so that was a really tedious process of jigsaw-piecing the song together,” she says. “‘Not Fair’ came out in one go in my bedroom; then ‘Sick of Myself’ was kind of an easier process.”
Hana emphasises the ethos of honesty and reality which pervades her EP: this sits in fascinating contrast with her almost obsessive focus on making sure her music sounds exactly right.
“I’m really passionate about the sounds of instruments. I will be myself, but I do care how it sounds… it’s the fusion of two worlds,” she admits. “I think I’m just a music nerd! Maybe I care too much about how it sounds, but it’s a fun journey to go down.”
The next step in that journey is inevitably testing the new sounds on stage – a setting Hana is always excited about. She relishes the chance to connect with fans and find out what the music is saying to them; and playing live also provides a vital outlet for her infectious energy.
“I think I’m too hyperactive to stay still… I think I feel more comfortable on stage than I do off it!” Hana says.
Following some extensive touring and a slot at SXSW, Hana will be showcasing her EP at Focus Wales in May.
“To come back and do a gig in Wales feels romantic in a way,” she says with a laugh.
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Hana Lili’s new EP ‘Hana’ lands on April 17th via Nettwerk – pre-order it HERE.
Words: Phil Taylor
Photo Credit: Sophie Cherry
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