For all of our comprehensive NZ Music Month coverage, head to the Rolling Stone New Zealand homepage.
Based in Auckland for most of his career, Hans. first made a name for himself in 2017 with “Froyo’, a dreamy bedroom pop cut that also featured Clairo and Aso, and he hasn’t missed a beat since. Keeping his workflow high, Hans. has since become one of the most promising producers and collaborators in the country, particularly memorably working with Hanbee and Imugi 이무기.
Becoming stronger behind the mic as he’s perfecting his production, it’s hardly a surprise that tastemakers like Zane Lowe have taken notice.
Falling in love with hip hop during his early teens, Hans. was immediately at a musical (and cultural) crossroad: growing up in a Korean household with his mum being a classical piano teacher, he had an early exposure to music, but not in the way you’d necessarily expect upon listening to his own output. His love of music eventually led him to record songs in his bedroom while he was a student, and he’s flourished ever since.
Hans. has only dropped one song in 2024 so far, “Grandmother Is Waiting for Me” (named a Song You Need to Know by us), a genuinely touching collaboration with Meaningful Stone, and that song built on the strength of his excellent 2023 EP Porcelain Demos.
Hans. called the EP a “rep-prelude project”, with Porcelain Demos preceding a full album that’s slated for release this year. “[It’s] a collection of songs that didn’t really fit my album but I wanted to still put out,” he explains.
Before any new album arrives, we asked Hans. to break down each song on Porcelain Demos in greater detail, which you can read below.
Porcelain Demos Track by Track:
“Maxxo”
Maxxo is just a banger-type song, something to play live. I think I get stuck in a loop making slower songs so I kind of sometimes have to force myself to switch it up. Being on tour with pH-1 also reminded me I need more depth in my sets, especially on the upbeat side. Producer swrly and I have worked closely in the past, we’ve got two EPs together from 2018, but this is our first time doing something together since. He’s been killing it, so it was nice to get back together for something.
“Porcelain”
I first tracked the song in Korea but it didn’t really come together until I was back in Sydney. I’ve always listened to Drake but for some reason while I was in Korea I got really really into Drake again. I ended up finishing the track in Sydney where I’d just moved out west (I lived in the CBD prior). Being by the water… just the new environment in general inspired a lot of these songs which is why I ended up titling the EP around “Porcelain”. The artwork too is shot by the water.
“iLa”
I exclusively only drink iced lattes… maybe add a menthol cigarette in the mix depending how good/bad life is going. “iLa” (short for iced latte) is just a freestyle, it doesn’t really mean much, but I wanted to channel that cold energy and just rap some raps, like 16 year old me would in high school. I always feel I exist in this weird genre limbo where I don’t fully feel like a ‘rapper’, but for this one I just wanted to rap.
“Matador”
Owen and I tracked Matador at the same ABG songwriting camp that Hanbee and woo! did Kawakawa. Hanbee’s room had the most sunlight in the house whilst our room was pretty dark and seedy, with a fragrance of [cigarettes brand] Esses. I think it’s pretty apparent in how different both songs sound.
Owen had just produced my entire kimyuntak album and we were exploring different sounds. The original version was actually a lot more empty – Owen went back to the project a few months back and changed the drums completely and added synths. We’re not trained musicians, we don’t know shit. When we were mixing kimyuntak, our engineer Ben said all our stems were fucked. Owen was telling me that wake up call helped push him to go even harder on this track in terms of building it out.
“For OD”
I vividly remember having dinner with Owen in Seoul around January this year, it was one of the last nights we were in Korea together. I can’t recall what we were talking about but he just said out the blue, “You live real dirty, like grimy,” talking about my absenteeism and me not really taking care of my health.
That talk kind of struck a chord with me as my friend group had done a really similar trip when we were 18 (staying in Korea for a couple months) and I got to thinking about what had/hadn’t changed since then for all of us. Corny but this is kind of me reflecting on everything – like a weird love letter to the homies. The strings at the end are very nice.
