Tanukichan’ Gizmo out 3/3 on Toro y Moi's Company Records
Tanuckichan
“Don’t Give Up”
PRESS RELEASE
Tanukichan is the project of Bay Area native Hannah van Loon. Throughout her self-described “sheltered” adolescence, van Loon taught herself guitar by spending hours in front of the radio, replicating riffs and chords from omnipresent bands like The Beatles and Incubus.
Although van Loon is the creator and leader of Tanukichan, the project can be considered a collaboration between her and the Grammy-nominated chillwave pioneer Chaz Bear of Toro y Moi. After seeing van Loon playing an early solo show in 2016, Bear expressed an interest in working with her; and Radiolove, Tanukichan’s first EP, arrived on Bear’s own Company Records later that same year, and he has worked with her on every subsequent Tanukichan release. Tanukichan's promising four-song release was followed in 2018 by their debut LP, Sundays. That release saw an enthusiastic response, with Pitchfork saying that it "marries the dreamlike eeriness of the weekend’s final hours with the heaviness of shoegaze," and it saw further praise from outlets like Rolling Stone, FADER, Stereogum, Loud & Quiet and The AV Club.
When the pandemic hit, van Loon adopted a dog named Gizmo, who became a much-needed companion while the Bay Area musician wrote her second album as Tanukichan, and her new album, GIZMO, is named after her four-legged friend. The album is an exercise in release, whether from situational hindrances — a forced lockdown, for one — or from self-imposed hedonistic coping mechanisms. “A theme I always had floating around was escape,” van Loon explains of her follow-up to 2018’s Sundays. “Escaping from myself, my problems, sadness and cycles.”
To channel the more uplifting spirit she wanted for GIZMO, van Loon turned to the radio pop-rock of her childhood: “I was struck by the in-your-face positivity of the lyrics,” she adds, referencing artists like 311, The Cranberries, and Tom Petty. “I wanted to bring that positivity while writing about the sad and helpless emotions I’d been grappling with.”
This new found positivity and interesting blend of influences are in evidence on “Don’t Give Up,” a nu metal-meets-Cocteau Twins groove that deals with the experience of trying to overcome imposter syndrome, as van Loon explains:"This song is about feeling I haven’t done anything with my life, but also knowing that I’ve accomplished a lot and it’s only getting better. I started writing the lyrics when I was on tour opening for the Drums after my first album came out. We were playing sold out shows in front of hundreds of people, but I knew it could change in an instant. I felt like I hit rock bottom emotionally, I wasn’t ready for the road and it killed me. I felt so disconnected from the band even though they were my backbone and were making it happen. The only thing that really helps me at that point is feeling like I can just let everything go, and we all die. Just accepting the fact that I can’t control anything and that in the end it doesn’t matter. We will all disappear. I wrote the chorus years later when I was finishing a bunch of the songs. I didn’t want it to be depressing, even though that’s where it came from. It came from giving up but I wanted to keep going. I wanted it to mean something moving on from the negative and I came up with a ridiculously positive chorus. Don’t give up now you know there’s another day, just know you’re going to get to a better place, a better place meaning a better place in life, or “heaven,” just nothingness where all your worries are gone."
GIZMO will be released on Company Records on March 3rd. It is available for preorder/presave here.
Tracklist
1. Escape
2. Don't Give Up
3. Bad Dream
4. Been Here Before
5. Make Believe
6. Like You
7. Thin Air (feat. Enumclaw)
8. Nothing To Lose
9. Take Care
10. Mr. Rain
