Hannah Junghwa van Loon, known professionally as Tanukichan, is an American singer-songwriter based in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Her debut album ''Sundays'' was released on July 13, 2018 via Company Records with production by Chaz Bear of Toro y Moi. Following the release of ''Sundays'', van Loon supported the musical act

Kero Kero Bonito Kero Kero Bonito (KKB) are a British indie pop band formed in London in 2013. The band consists of vocalist Sarah Midori Perry and producers and multi-instrumentalists Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled. Their musical style consists of indie pop, ele ...

on their 2018 tour. Prior to ''Sundays'', van Loon independently released her EP ''Radiolove'' and an early version of the song “Bitter Medicine” in 2016. On March 3, 2023, van Loon released her second album ''GIZMO'' on Company Records, also produced by Chaz Bear. In June and July 2023, she was the supporting act for

Melanie Martinez Melanie Adele Martinez (born April 28, 1995) is an American Puerto Rican-Dominican singer and songwriter. Born in Astoria, Queens, and raised in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York, Baldwin, New York, Martinez rose to fame in 2012 after appearing ...

on all 29 stops of her North American PORTALS Tour. Van Loon was the special guest for

Alex G Alexander Giannascoli (born February 3, 1993), better known by his stage names Alex G or, formerly, (Sandy) Alex G, is an American musician, producer, and singer-songwriter. He started his career playing in multiple local bands such as the Skin ...

and

Alvvays Alvvays (pronounced "always") is a Canadian indie pop band formed in 2011, originating from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and subsequently based in Toronto, Ontario. It consists of Molly Rankin (vocals and guitar), Kerri MacLellan (keybo ...

' co-headline 2023 Summer Tour that took place in August.

Early life

Van Loon was raised in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

in a Christian family. She grew up performing classical music, studying keyboard, violin, guitar, and bass. Van Loon first began playing in ensembles as a fiddle player in a bluegrass band. During this time she was enrolled at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, majoring in mathematics. She later spent four years in San Francisco pop band Trails and Ways. Van Loon's stage name refers to the addition of the

Japanese honorific The Japanese language makes use of a system of honorific speech, called , which includes honorific suffixes and prefixes when talking to, or referring to others in a conversation. Suffixes are often gender-specific at the end of names, while ...

''chan'' to the name of the tanuki, an animal which has significance in much of Japanese folklore. While growing up, van Loon was often referred to as "Hannah-chan".

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Sundays'' (2018) * ''GIZMO'' (2023)

Singles and EPs

Singles

* “Bitter Medicine” (2016)¹ * “Make Believe” (2022) * "Thin Air" feat.

Enumclaw Enumclaw ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 12,543 at the 2020 census. The Enumclaw Plateau, on which the city resides, was formed by a volcanic mudflow (lahar) from Mount Rainier approximately 5,700 ye ...

(2023) * "Take Care" (2023) * "NPC" (2023) * "City Bus: (2024) * "It Gets Easier" (2024)

Extended plays

* ''Radiolove'' (2016) * Circles (2024)

Notes

# The instrumentation and mixing on the single release of "Bitter Medicine" is significantly different from the version that later appears on ''Sundays''. Despite this, there is no formal acknowledgement that this version is a demo.

References

{{Authority control Living people American indie rock musicians American women songwriters American musicians of Asian descent University of California, Berkeley alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American alternative rock musicians Singers from San Francisco 21st-century American women musicians American women singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from California 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters