Hana Vu Takes on NYC
The Bowery Ballroom was electric when Hana Vu took the stage.
After the May release of her newest album, Romanticism, Vu took off on a multi-city tour across North America, supported by Babebee. Vu’s tour made a stop in New York City, where Blanket was able to catch two unique performances.
At the Bowery Ballroom the artist started off the evening playing Hammer, the second song off her latest album, Romanticism. She also performed favorites like “Care,” “Airplane,” and “22.”
Although I only recently discovered Vu, I couldn’t help but feel like I was attending the concert of an artist I’ve been wanting to see my whole life. I felt a sense of elation standing in the warm light listening to her carefully crafted builds and melodramatic flourish. The crowd appeared to experience a similar bliss, dancing along to Vu’s latest hits.
A couple days after her show at the Bowery Ballroom, Vu played an intimate acoustic set at Rough Trade. Before her set, Vu explained that the stripped back, acoustic vibe felt a bit like her old days of performing around Los Angeles as a teen. At the record store she performed a few songs from her new album, including “Alone,” “How it Goes,” and “I Draw a Heart.” Watching Vu perform stripped back versions of these songs felt like I was watching her build homes for each of her emotions.
There’s a sense of holy rage in the 12 songs that make up Romanticism. She crafts a brooding landscape of her musings and searches for meaning. Her ornate and haunting vocal range paints a picture of modern heartbreak.
The artwork for her latest album matches the rawness of her emotional indie-pop stylings. Inspired by Artemisia Gentileschi’s seventeenth century painting Judith Slaying Holofernes, the album artwork features Vu as the figure being slayed.
On the Romanticism album and tour, Vu invites us to participate in the intimacy of her emotional introspection. — Olivia Bardo
On the Romanticism album and tour, Vu invites us to participate in the intimacy of her emotional introspection. — Olivia Bardo
Photo by Nicholas McMillen (nickoboy.com)
