Helen Zhao: I’ve read that the album is named after a dog you adopted, who unfortunately passed away during the pandemic. Was this album meant to be a tribute to Gizmo?

Hannah: He was my pandemic baby, my friend. He super suddenly died, right when I was finishing the album. I hadn’t been planning on naming it anything to do with Gizmo, but it just kind of worked out. The album art came together last minute too.

HZ: Is the dog on the album cover Gizmo?

Hannah: That’s a picture of him from right before or right when I got him.

HZ: What was your headspace like in approaching GIZMO in relation to your prior albums?

Hannah: I wanted it to be a little noisier, a little more upbeat. I thought it would be fun to have songs that translate really well to a live show. Yeah, I think I was writing it kind of during the pandemic and a little bit before— I always had a theme of escape running around.

HZ: “Escape” is the first track on the album. Was there a specific approach to ordering the tracks on the album? How did you name the tracks?

Hannah: I actually decided the order of the tracks all afterwards. I also named the tracks after I had the song. Usually like, pick some lyrics or figure out what it means. “Escape” wasn’t written to be the first song in the album, it just kind of ended up that way. But, I feel like it really works and I think it's interesting that it ended up being the first song and I had thought about naming the album Escape. I guess it all happened that way— I didn’t really plan it before I started.

HZ: Do you think this flexibility ties into the theme of escape, or, did it help you to approach the album as a sort-of “blank slate”?

Hannah: I didn’t have an objective, but I knew more-so what I wanted it to sound like. It was more conceptual than the previous album (Sundays). I knew those themes of escape would come out in the lyrics. I feel like you never really know, when you start making it. You just kind of go where it takes you.

HZ: How did you begin working with Chaz Bear?

Hannah: I met him through some mutual friends in the Bay. He came out to a show and I think that he was looking for people to work with. He was stoked about the show and then he asked me if I wanted to make an EP together. I was like yes! Haha, Are you kidding me?

HZ: I’ve noticed a heavier emphasis on the drums, or the rhythm, in this album. Was this a conscious direction you and Chaz Bear took?

Hannah: We definitely recorded more live drums for this album. The beat was definitely important to me; I wanted this album to be more upbeat and stuff, so I wanted that to come across. I had been playing with this one drummer, Chris, for a while and we hashed out a bunch of the songs and recorded a lot of them. There was more time on this album than the others, so it lent itself to more drum recordings.

HZ: Did Covid delay the process of creating this album? Were you expecting to release the album in closer proximity to Sundays (2018)?

Hannah: It definitely took a while. I remember talking to Chaz about working on it, but then it would be a really long time before we could coordinate a time to work together. It would be like just the two of us, with masks. Like, really careful two week buffer zone on either end of hanging out with the family and things like that. It was more careful, spread out.

HZ: What does touring feel like for you now that the pandemic restrictions have been lifted?

Hannah: Honestly it feels similar again to pre-pandemic. I mean, during the pandemic there were no shows— I remember the first show I went to with my friends. We all had this glow in our eyes, like oh my god, nice to see you! It felt like we were all high on seeing each other at that very first show. To me it feels pretty normal now, honestly, which is cool. Hopefully nothing terrible comes of it.

HZ: Was there a specific feeling for why Mr. Rain was the closing song on the album?

Hannah: Once I added a string track to it, it became this sort of long, slow, epic song that just seemed like it should close out the album. Oh, and that song is fun too because my older brother plays cello, and so he brought in a string quartet to bring in on the album. I think that “Mr. Rain” might’ve been the hardest track to complete, in terms of overall production. That one had multiple forms before the final one.

HZ: Oh, I’ve read that you had an upbringing in classical music. Was it nice to have it return with a punkier, shoe-gaze sound?

Hannah: Totally, yeah, it felt really good. And it was really cool to make something with my brother.

HZ: Was this your first time making music with him?

Hannah: Yes, actually.

HZ: That’s quite sweet, especially as it closes out GIZMO. Do you have any final reflections that you’d like to share about GIZMO and this tour?

Hannah: This tour has been going quite well and it's great that people are resonating with the album. The band I have now is really cool. There’s Jared Matson, he’s actually on the same label as me— he’s just put out a solo project. Then Joe Lyle, and they’re both on the track “Been Here Before.” They just kind of came in at the end to work on that one. It’s really fun to do all these shows with them. We have some more songs we’ve been working on and it’s fun to have a month, to just kind of, play together and then hopefully we’ll be able to write more.

HZ: Does this mean that another album is in the works?

Hannah: Yeah! Haha, it might be a while though.