Hachiku is here to enhance your Christmas playlist.
Hachiku – the indie rock project of Anika Ostendorf – and Tushara Rose have come together to spread some festive cheer with their collaborative new single, “Merry Kissmas”.
Putting a fresh indie rock twist on a classic Christmas song, “Merry Kissmas” is, about celebrating love, joy, and the little moments that make the holiday season so special.
Hachiku and Rose go way back, as the former explains: “My friend Tushara Rose and I first met 10 years ago as exchange students in Naarm/Melbourne and since then we’ve been writing fun little songs together whenever we can. I visited Tushara in Nottingham a number of years ago, and during one long evening in her student accommodation, we put verses and instruments to an Xmas jingle her mum, Shyama Perera, had created during Tushara’s childhood.
“The song, ‘Merry Kissmas’, became a recurring holiday favourite among our friends and family. Now, eight years later, we’ve finally decided to give it the official release it deserves.”
The accompanying music video, filmed on handycam around Preston and Coburg by Marcelle Bradbeer, recreates iconic romantic film scenes from the likes of Romeo + Juliet, Titanic, and Dirty Dancing (watch above).
Hachiku’s Christmas song follows her recent single “Keep on Swimming”, which offered fans a taste of her forthcoming album, The Joys of Being Pure at Heart, out on February 28th.
“During the pandemic I was trying to make up my mind whether I’d be more successful swimming from Australia back to Germany or digging a tunnel through the earth – this song is the resulting love letter to my family back home and everyone I’ve ever missed,” Hachiku said of “Keep on Swimming”.
“There’s a certain self-inflicted heartache in the repeated goodbyes and the masochism of choosing to move to the other side of the world – always wondering and worrying, yet holding onto the belief that it was for good reason.”
Hachiku’s “Merry Kissmas” is out now.
