Hana Pestle (born July 11, 1989), known mononymously as HANA, is a singer and producer based in Los Angeles, California. Initially starting out as a primarily acoustic musician, she started releasing music in 2006 under her full name, until she met producer Michael Tucker (aka BloodPop) and became more focused on producing electronic music. She decided to pivot towards electronic Synth-Pop production and began going by the mononym HANA, and released her first self-titled EP in 2016, produced by BloodPop. In 2019 she released her debut album as HANA, HANADRIEL, whose production was live-streamed entirely on Twitch. She also released the Moonstoned EP and has provided vocals on two EPs with Trance musician Durante on the techno label Anjunadeep.
She's also known for being a close friend and collaborator with Grimes, touring with her, appearing in several music videos, and guesting on "We Appreciate Power."
Discography
As Hana Pestle:- Hana Pestle (EP, 2008)
- Live In The Studio (EP, 2009)
- This Way (2009)
- For The Sky (EP, 2011)
- HANA (EP, 2016)
- HANADRIEL (2019)
- 13 Voices (EP with Durante, 2020)
- Celestia (EP with Durante, 2021)
- Moonstoned (EP, 2022)
Tropes:
- Alliterative Title: "Anxious Alien," "So & So," and "Spiritstalker."
- Color Motif: Purple, which is on nearly all of her album covers and her signature hair color.
- Cool Crown: Wears a futuristic purple crown on the cover of Hanadriel.
- Cover Version: Uploaded many acoustic covers to Soundcloud up until 2012. Also has a cover of Tegan & Sara's "Dark Come Soon" with Grimes.
- Face on the Cover: Nearly all of her releases, barring the EPs with Durante, which use the standard Anjunadeep album cover format.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Grimes.
- Indecipherable Lyrics: "Whisper Cell" just features Hana vocalizing wordlessly.
- Instrumental: "Hanadriel's Theme" and "Moonwell."
- Longest Song Goes Last: The HANA EP ends with "Chimera" (5:56).
- Meaningful Rename: Going from her real name Hana Pestle to the mononym HANA, reflecting the change in her music from straightforward acoustic balladry to electronic pop and dance.
- Melismatic Vocals: Most prominently on "Creatura," where she really gets to flex her vocal chops.
- New Sound Album: Everything after she changed her name and pivoted to electronic music.
- Only One Name: Hana Pestle to HANA.
- Out-of-Genre Experience: "Cowgirl Bebop" is an acoustic love song on an otherwise entirely Synth-Pop oriented album.
- Purple Is Powerful: Why it's a Color Motif.
- Self-Titled Album: Has the Hana Pestle EP and the HANA EP.
- Sequel Song: "Chimera 2.0," a remix of "Chimera" from the HANA EP.
- Shout-Out:
- HANADRIEL is a reference to the character Galadriel from Lord of the Rings, her favorite fictional character.
- "Cowgirl Bebop" is a reference to Cowboy Bebop.
- "Nu Leaf" is a reference to Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
- "Moonwell" is a reference to World of Warcraft.
- Textless Album Cover: HANADRIEL and Moonstoned.
- Trance: Both of the EPs with Durante and a big influence in her music. She also hosts weekly trance DJ livestreams on her Twitch, HANAWINS.