Hannah Sian Topp, known professionally as Aldous Harding, is a New Zealand indie folk singer-songwriter, originally based in Lyttelton, New Zealand. Harding comes from a musical family, her mother is folk singer Lorina Harding. As of 2020, she is based in Cardiff, Wales, where she had previously lived with partner and collaborator H. Hawkline. One of the first musicians who came across her was New Zealand singer-songwriter Anika Moa. Moa asked Harding to play support for her that night after finding her busking outside the venue she was about to play.
Her debut release with 4AD, Party (produced with the award-winning John Parish; PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse) introduced a new pulse to the stark and unpopulated dramatic realm where the likes of Kate Bush and Scott Walker reside. Igniting interest with her eponymous debut album released in 2017, Aldous Harding quickly became known for her charismatic combination of talent, tenacity and shrewd wit. The album drew attention and accolades from some of the most illustrious corners of the music industry, receiving 4 stars in MOJO and Uncut, while UK blog The 405 hailed her a “toweringly talented song writer”.
Harding’s third album Designer was released in April 2019. Designer finds the New Zealander hitting her creative stride. After Party, Harding came off a 100-date tour last summer and went straight into the studio with a collection of songs written on the road. Reuniting with John Parish, producer of Party, Harding spent 15 days recording and 10 days mixing at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth and Bristol’s J&J Studio and Playpen. From the bold strokes of opening track ‘Fixture Picture’, there is an overriding sense of an enigmatic artist confident in their work, with contributions from Huw Evans (H. Hawkline), Stephen Black (Sweet Baboo), drummer Gwion Llewelyn and violinist Clare Mactaggart broadening and complimenting Harding’s rich and timeless songwriting. The song “The Barrel”, won the 2019 APRA Silver Scroll award.
In 2022, she released her fourth studio album, Warm Chris. It became her first number one album in her home country, and also featured two of her first charting singles there, with “Tick Tock” peaking at No. 31, and “Ennui” peaking at No. 40 on the New Zealand Hot Singles Chart. For Warm Chris, the New Zealand musician reunited with producer John Parish, continuing a professional partnership that began in 2017 and has forged pivotal bodies of work (2017’s Party and the aforementioned Designer). All ten tracks were recorded at Rockfield Studios and includes contributions from H. Hawkline, Seb Rochford, Gavin Fitzjohn, John and Hopey Parish and Jason Williamson (Sleaford Mods).
Renowned for the captivating state of possession she occupies in live performance, Aldous Harding has won crowds the world over playing alongside Deerhunter, Frankie Cosmos and Perfume Genius, as well as to hoards of eager crowds at SXSW, Festival Les Indisciplinées, Rolling Stone Weekender, Visions Festival, The Great Escape, Golden Plains and more. Aldous’ 2017 touring schedule spanned Europe, the US and the United Kingdom for much of the year, with Green Man, End of the Road Festival, Latitude Festival, Nelsonville Music Festival and more on the horizon.
