Tanukichan - "Don't Give Up"
Photo by Brendan Nakahara
Tanukichan may be the project of Bay Area musician Hannah van Loon, it is also a collaboration between van Loon and Chaz Bear of Toro y Moi. The project's newest single, "Don't Give Up," is this odd mixture of chillwave, shoegaze, and nu metal. (I honestly didn't pick up the nu metal until I saw it mentioned in the press release, but now I can't unhear it...) "Don't Give Up" has the unmistakable electronic chill of bands like Massive Attack and Stereolab, the fuzz of shoegaze, and the oddly aggressive riffs of nu metal. This song should not work at all, but Tanukichan pull off this unique sound masterfully. It's one of the more unique and familiar sounding songs we've brought you in a while.
Hannah van Loon says of the new single:
"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."
You can watch the video for "Don't Give Up" below. GIZMO is due out March 3 on Company Records, and can be pre-ordered here. For more on Tanukichan, check out the artist's Twitter and Instagram. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
