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Hachiku

Photo credit – Izzie Austin

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HACHIKU
shares her ode to crushes
and desire on new single
‘FUN FOR EVERYONE’

+ Announces
AUS, US, UK & EU
Tour Dates

New album
THE JOYS OF BEING
PURE AT HEART
out Feb 28

Stream ‘Fun For Everyone’ | Watch the video

Pre-save + pre-order The Joys of Being Pure at Heart

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Hachiku

Photo – Marcelle Bradbeer

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Praise for HACHIKU

“Ostendorf’s voice is a crystalline marvel” – PASTE

“a striking comeback” – Rolling Stone

“Hachiku may well be the Björk of the bedroom pop generation” – SXSW

“Her music is fully deserving of support; fun, literate, whipsmart indie rock with an alt-pop appeal.” – CLASH Magazine

“Hachiku has a unique way of implementing the unexpected” – DIY Magazine

“There is nothing undercooked about this majestic piece of music, a haunting ethereal plod through raw emotion, with Ostendorf’s icy voice rhythmically plucking each syllable.” – The Guardian

“radiates Björk-like whimsy, thanks to Ostendorf’s precise vocal delivery and a rich tapestry of backing harmonies… a quiet triumph” – Bandcamp (Album of the Day)

“Hachiku’s globe-trotting has made for more worldly pop, and her songs have a homespun feel that is both intimate and magical, assured and hard to pigeonhole.” – Brooklyn Vegan

“Despite years on the road, Ostendorf creates a sense of home for herself in the dreamy but avant-garde bedroom pop of Hachiku.” – The Current (NPR)

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Naarm/Melbourne-via-Germany-via-Detroit indie-rock/alt-pop outfit HACHIKU – the music project from Anika Ostendorf (she/her) – today releases “bassoon-rock” track ‘Fun For Everyone’ that’s “a little bit sexy, a little bit raunchy”, a driving ode to crushes, desire, the infinite capacity of love and the importance of growing up with queer role models that’s shared with its Run Lola Run-inspired music video filmed in London last year. ‘Fun For Everyone’ is the final single from her forthcoming album The Joys of Being Pure at Heart (Feb 28 via Marathon Artists/Independent) and arrives alongside the announcement of a five-date album tour in Australia this March, adding to dates announced in the US, Europe and UK  + appearances at SXSW Austin and The Great Escape. Stream/watch ‘Fun For Everyone’ HERE, pre-order The Joys of Being Pure at Heart HERE, and tickets to all shows are on sale now from hachikumusic.com.

Also featuring ‘Time Wasted Worrying’, their first single in four years released last June, ‘Tell Your Friends You Love Them’, and ‘Keep on Swimming’ – which have seen support and praise from BBC Radio 1, BBC 6 Music, NPR, KEXP, The Current, CLASH, The Needle Drop, triple j, Rolling Stone, Our Culture Mag, rage Feature Video (‘Tell Your Friends You Love Them’) and more – Hachiku’s forthcoming album The Joys of Being Pure at Heart sees Ostendorf trace her journey to openness, embracing deep human connection, radical honesty and vulnerability with herself and others for the first time, while remaining determinedly open-hearted towards life despite its challenges and disappointments.

Opening with playful synths turned wobbly courtesy of a tape machine, ‘Fun For Everyone’ is the “rock-out” moment on The Joys of Being Pure at Heart, with bassoon by Lyndon Watts – former principal bassoonist of German symphony orchestra Münchner Philharmoniker – doubling the lead guitar riffs across the track. The merging of classical leanings with electronic pop echoes throughout the album, which also features renowned California-based harpist Mary Lattimore (Kurt Vile, Thurston Moore), and violin and cello from classical music group The Newmarket Collective that, when paired with Ostendorf’s shimmering arpeggiated synths and syncopated guitar, beautifully anchored by her band’s rhythmic backdrop of swaying percussion and lush harmonies, creates novel pieces of contemporary music that defy genre boundaries.

On ‘Fun For Everyone’, Hachiku shares, “This song is our ‘a little bit sexy, a little bit raunchy, slightly out-of-character, opposite to death metal’ heavy rock song with bassoon. It took me a long time to figure out my sexuality, in the very essence that it is fluid, which I think is because I didn’t have any queer role models where I grew up so I didn’t know all the places sexuality could go. Over the years it’s morphed from asexual, to gay, to demisexual – I’m still discovering it day by day. The song is a little bit like a tongue-in-cheek roleplay of who I either wish I was or feel like I should be based on society’s expectations of how attraction traditionally works – I do have crushes and fall in love and experience sexual attraction, just in my own way!”

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The Joys of Being Pure at Heart brings collaboration to the forefront of Hachiku unlike ever before, which was inspired by co-producing and playing on Jen Cloher’s ARIA, AMP, AIR and Music Victoria-nominated fifth album I Am The River, The River Is Me (2023) and being a part of queer-run, community-minded Naarm/Melbourne label Milk! Records. “It’s so fun and inspiring welcoming other people in and making music in ways I would never come to think of myself. I used to be a lot more protective about needing things 100% done my way, but wanted to welcome a new challenge for this record,” Ostendorf shares. The Joys of Being Pure at Heart was primarily recorded by Ostendorf across various home studios and mobile setups; her band – Jessie Warren (she/her; bass, BVs), Georgia Smith (they/she; guitar, BVs) and Simon Reynolds (he/him – drums) recorded at Nick Huggins’ (Jess Ribeiro, The Dirty Three, Jen Cloher, Alice Skye) studio on Wadawurrung County in Point Lonsdale, with Alex O’Gorman (Angie McMahon, Hannah McKittrick, Garage Sale) recording additional drums at his studio on Boon Wurrung Country in Pakenham.

Author Tim Krieder once said, “if we want the rewards of being loved we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known,” and this idea is the lifeblood running through The Joys of Being Pure at Heart (a title which riffs off the name of a beloved indie band). Across the album Anika Ostendorf writes from a newly vulnerable place – after years of unintentionally being closed off – and brings in hope, love, honesty, humour and community tied together with a sense of wonder and joy. Ostendorf shares: “I never quite understood why a pure heart could cause you pain, but I wanted myself to stay that way among the challenges of the world that could leave you jaded, scared and bitter. It’s not about being naive or shielding oneself from the realities of human existence but there’s something beautiful and joyous in maintaining an openness to the world. If I can be compassionate and gentle with myself, I can show compassion to others. Remain understanding, believe in the best in all, have hope.” By placing trust in those around her, Ostendorf promises to stay open, kind and loving, embracing life’s uncertainties and difficulties regardless of the darkness we all experience sometimes.

Hachiku is the brainchild of German-Australian producer Anika Ostendorf, who writes and produces worldly indie rock with an alt-pop appeal alongside her band. Through the release of their self-recorded and self-mixed EPs Hachiku (2017) and 99 Dreams (2020) and critically acclaimed debut LP I’ll Probably Be Asleep (2020), Hachiku has steadily built a loyal global fan base hinged on catchy melodies, shimmering walls of sound, and their praised live performances. They have seen consistent support and acclaim from NPR’s All Songs Considered, Bandcamp, DIY Magazine, Clash Magazine and NME among others, and are continuously invited to support household names around the UK, Europe, U.S. and so-called-Australia including Courtney Barnett, Jen Cloher, The Breeders, José González and Snail Mail, including festival slots at Iceland Airwaves and SXSW. Hachiku’s music has been featured on Netflix’s Never Have I Ever, HBO Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls and Audi’s mysterious 13-minute ‘Led Balloon’ film commercial.

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HACHIKU – The Joys of Being Pure at Heart
Feb 28, 2025 (Marathon Artists/Independent)
Pre-save | Pre-order

Hachiku

Track List

Don’t Put Your Head Underwater
Tell Your Friends You Love Them
Keep on Swimming
Wild Eyed and Free
Do You Like What You See In Me
Victims of Our Own Demise
Time Wasted Worrying
What Rhymes with Serendipity
Fun For Everyone
Room For Everybody (Never Let Go of the Joy)

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Hachiku.

TOUR DATES


Tickets on sale now via hachikumusic.com


Sun 2 Mar – Permanent Records Roadhouse – Los Angeles, CA
4-9 Mar – New Colossus Festival – New York City, NY
Fri 7 Mar – The Pouch – Philadelphia, PA
10-15 Mar – SXSW Austin – Austin, TX
Fri 21 Mar – National Theatre  – Walbanga Country/Braidwood, NSW
Sat 22 Mar – Oxford Art Factory – Gadigal Land/Sydney, NSW
Sun 23 Mar – The Servo – Dharawal Country/Port Kembla, NSW            
Fri 28 Mar – Northcote Social Club – Naarm/Melbourne, VIC
Sat 30 Mar – Royal Mail Hotel – Gulidjan Country/Birregurra, VIC
Wed 16 April – La Fosse – Laval, FR
Thur 17 Apr – Blonde Platine – Amiens, FR
Sat 19 Apr – Hebebühne – Hamburg, DE
Sun 20 Apr – Schokoladen – Berlin, DE
Tue 22 Apr – Ilses Erika – Leipzig, DE
Wed 23 Apr – Milla Live-Club – Munich, DE
Thur 24 Apr – Kulturzentrum Merlin – Stuttgart, DE
Fri 25 Apr – c/o pop Festival – Cologne, DE
Sat 26 Apr – Nun Kulturraum – Karlsruhe, DE
Sun 4 May – Sounds From The Other City – Manchester, UK
Wed 7 May – MONO – Glasgow, UK
Thur 8 May – Cobalt – Newcastle, UK
Sat 10 May – Headrow House – Leeds, UK
Tue 13 May – The Boileroom – Guildford, UK
Wed 14 May – The Victoria – London, UK
15-17 May – Great Escape Festival – Brighton UK

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Hachiku.

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Spotify · Apple Music · YouTube

Newsletter · hachikumusic.com

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Hachiku

Photo – Marcelle Bradbeer

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