FEATURE:
Head of the Love Club
I featured the magnificent Gretel Hänlyn in my Spotlight feature. There is someone you should follow on Twitter and Instagram. She is such a hugely impressive artist. She released the magnificent Slugeye album last year. There is an E.P. on the way very soon. I shall come to that. I do feel like this year is going to be the one where one of our very best young artists is going to get her music heard across the world. I feel she is someone who could get international tour dates. American audiences and eyes will welcome her very soon. Real name Maddy Haenlein, Gretel Hänlyn is a twenty-year-old artist from West London. In a musical and creative household, she was raised on artists like Nick Cave. It is not a shock she picked up a guitar and began writing her own gothic and fascinating songs. Picking up other influences as she grew and began songwriting, one can hear elements of the likes of Nirvana and Tim Buckley in her music. Even though there are particular artists who have driven and inspired Hänlyn, she very much has this original and strongly personal voice. I am looking forward to hearing more music from this incredible artist. Before getting to news about her forthcoming E.P., Gretel Hänlyn was interviewed by NOTION. In a sea of artists being tipped and celebrated, here is someone who could well eclipse them all and announce herself as a future icon and songwriting great. She definitely has the passion and talent to go on for years and possibly decades:
“Hey Gretel! Your new single “Wiggy” has been out in the world for a few days – how are you feeling about the release? And can you tell me a bit about the track?
It’s always a manic anticlimax for me when I release a song. I think I’ve lived with the song for so long that I expect some massive reception and celebration when I do release it, but in reality no amount of praise will ever make you feel like you’ve succeeded or ‘completed’ the release. It’s a funny one, I’m still navigating how to keep myself content and grounded with releasing music, but I’m getting there quickly. Wiggy is about my beloved boy feline, Wiggins, named after Bradley Wiggins (he’d just won the Tour de France when we got him). I’m always envious of how easy cats have it, it must so lovely to be a cat. So I wrote a song about it, which started out as a joke but I quickly realised it’s actually a good concept and something people will respond well to. I don’t think me admiring the feline lifestyle is in any way exclusive to me – who wouldn’t want to lie on a bed and get massaged all day?
PHOTO CREDIT: Jasper Cable-Alexander
Has your new music been a long time in the making? What was the creative process like?
For me, I write in spells and my dry spells can last for months so I never know when a surge of songs is incoming. I wrote the demos for my upcoming EP over the span of about five months, but didn’t commit them to a body of work until I collated all the demos together and saw a lot of running themes in many of my best demos
Then the EP came together in just under a week when I went away to Hastings with the producers Mura Masa, Jadu Heart and Lloyd Wayne. It’s funny, I hadn’t much faith in many of the demos until I showed them to the boys, and they were like ‘how fucking long have you been silently sitting on these songs?’.
Did you always know you wanted to do music? Do you a remember a moment where it became a career that seemed a viable reality?
I’ve always loved playing and writing music, and always dreamed about making it my job. I’ve been playing guitar and writing songs since I was 11, so at 20 I feel like I’ve put enough hours in to not be a total fraud. ‘Succeeding’ in music wasn’t something I ever thought would happen, the chances are slim and I know how competitive it is, but when I met my manager I saw a clearer route to getting my songs out and playing shows. That must have been when I believed it might be possible for me.
What era is 2023 ushering in for you? What are your hopes for the year ahead?
Well, I got the bug for gigging when I was touring last year and I feel I know what I’m doing as a musician now, so this year I’d like to do as many headlines and festivals as possible, whilst also writing a debut album. I also do hope that I get something from my new EP. I adore each of these songs individually and even more as one body. I’m so proud of it, so the main job is done, but I’m not one of those people who says they don’t care if people like it or not. I want it to resonate with people and I want people to listen. If a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around to hear it, does it make a sound? I’ve had my catharsis from it already, so now I just want other people to have the same and recognise the emotion and perspective in it”.
Gretel Hänlyn is an artist who I was seduced by from the very first song I heard. There is something about her songwriting and voice that goes so deep and draws you in. An artist who is going to be playing huge stages very soon, I would not be surprised to see her at festivals like Glastonbury in the summer. She is a sensation! I would welcome and encouraged people to explore her music. She did announce the 16th March release date and tracklist on her Twitter page recently. CLASH were among those who excitedly reacted to the news of a new Gretel Hänlyn coming into the world:
“Gretel Hänlyn has laid out plans for her new ‘Head Of The Love Club’ EP.
The alt-pop riser caught attention with her debut EP ‘Slugeye’, largely sculpted when she was just 18 years old. Pushed into the public gaze, she quickly learned to express herself, these ambitions come to the fore on her new work.
Emphatic lead single ‘Wiggy’ is out now, alongside a video directed by Ben Brook. On March 16th you can expect to tune into Gretel’s new EP, with ‘Head Of The Love Club’ boasting a plethora of pop thrills.
Introducing the EP, Gretel Hänlyn talks about the changes she’s undergone since sharing her debut material…
When I wrote my first EP, ‘Slugeye’, I hadn’t done any live shows, I was 18 and learning as I went and you can hear that on the record which is what I love about it. But with ‘Head Of The Love Club’, I had a vision of what I knew I wanted to hear from myself, I wrote it as I’d want to hear it as a listener and audience member.
I always crave that moment when an artist says something, no matter how simple, that kicks you in the tummy because you completely understand it. The new approach was difficult because it coincided with a time where my heart was very heavy – I was outraged and ended up having some of the most cathartic moments of my life upon listening back and finishing the record. It feels so gothic and kinda frightening at times, and then so funny and tongue in cheek the next moment – the full spectrum of the emotions of a 20 year old woman.
I was inspired by a lot of PJ Harvey’s brutally feminine lyrics but instead of writing from an empowered female perspective, I often leant into the narrative of a naive young girl, infatuated with ‘the head of the love club’, a figure that seems so above her. That’s sort of how I felt at the time… the fantasies I created in some of the songs were definitely inspired by how I felt in my relationships when writing this.
Exciting times. Catch Gretel on the road in April, hitting London’s Moth Club on April 4th, Manchester’s YES Basement on April 6th, and Bristol’s Exchange on April 8th.
I feel a lot has happened since I last featured Gretel Hänlyn. I would love to interview her one day and, when the Head of the Love Club E.P. arrives next month, I am definitely going to review one of the songs. She is a wonderful artist with a very long and bright future ahead, so I was keen to write a bit more in the hope it will prompt people to support and follow her. You just know this extraordinary artist is going to go a long way. She has achieved so much already, but this is just the start of things. A lot of love and attention is coming her way, and it is so…
EXCITING to see.