Manitoba Live Music Event

About

Hannah Epperson has been traveling and touring Europe extensively for the past two years, and for those who have followed her, there has been no end to the ebbs and flows of adventure. Every single one of her more than 100 concerts and festivals has its unique and special moments and stories. A frequent collaborator, she has shared the stage and studio with Fleet Foxes, Ry X, Julianna Barwick and more. With her violin, loop pedal and voice, Hannah has the capacity to get lost in the design of her own worlds without ever leaving her audience behind. 

Fittingly, her albums are not conceptualized as a mere succession of individual songs: There are two distinct versions of each piece – one minimalist orchestral (Iris), the other crystal clear experimental pop (Amelia). Upsweep, which was released in October 2016, is the first album of this cycle. Slowdown was released February 2018.  

In Epperson’s universe, the names Iris and Amelia represent two fictional characters whose opposing world orders anchor the precarious oscillations of a third fictional character, for whom the battles with empathic psychosis and severe social alienation in an ever-maddening world are ultimately life-threatening. Iris and Amelia, then, stand in clear contrast with each other both in the musical and narrative context, offering a vision of more whole universe rather than a partial one. The lyrics transport that oscillation between the two characters and merge the real and the surreal, the finite and the infinite.

In both voicings, Epperson, the Canadian with a US passport, creates a unique soundscape. Assigning a genre is thus a rather difficult task. Conceptually, however, Hannah Epperson can certainly be called an avant-garde pop artist. Considering her artistic engagement with images and political issues, Epperson joins ranks with the feminist pop giants of our time. A very straightforward person, she exposes gender inequalities, class divisions, environmental injustices and other social ills and mocks superficial notions of femininity.

Born in Salt Lake City and raised in Vancouver, Hannah Epperson is a true traveler between worlds, both in an artistic and in a biographical sense. So it comes as no surprise that she calls the eclectic, exuberant melting pot New York City her home now. Hannah draws her inspiration from her travels as well as from frequent collaborations with other artists across a wide range of vocations from all over the world. All of these impressions and inspirations come together to form her very unique and refreshing repertoire.