Interview: Hannah Hill Embraces Vulnerability Through Folk
With a sensibility that weaves together nature, sincere emotion, and an almost confessional honesty, Hannah Hill is establishing herself as one of the most promising voices in contemporary indie-folk.
Her music is built on acoustic guitars, pedal steel, and deeply authentic lyrics. It has resonated with listeners who see themselves in her vulnerability. Following a debut that positioned her as an intimate and luminous storyteller, Hannah returns with Underbelly, a six-track EP where she explores love, trust, the bonds that hold us together, and the beauty of showing up without defenses.
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We sat down with her to talk about the vulnerability that inspired this project, the importance of nature as a creative force, the real stories behind songs like “Build a House” and “Horses Run,” and how her emotional life, shaped by deep friendships, a healthy romantic relationship, and a strengthened bond with her brother, influenced every detail of the EP.
Underbelly is such an evocative title. What does that “inner” or more vulnerable side represent to you personally?
When the word Underbelly crossed my mind as the EP title, it felt like a no-brainer. I just stopped considering anything else. It perfectly describes the themes of the music on this project, the visuals I’m using to accompany the songs, and also my songwriting process simultaneously. This EP really is about opening yourself up to love and being loved through forgiveness and sheer vulnerability. When an animal is expressing trust to a human or other animal, it rolls over and shows its underbelly – its most vulnerable spot. Animals play a big part in the visual world of this project, as many of the people I talk about in the songs are represented by an animal in the cover art. Process-wise, I pride myself on always being entirely honest and authentic in my lyrics. It feels like I’m showing you my Underbelly when I get onstage to sing them or when release day comes around.
You wrote Underbelly between New York City and rural Wisconsin. How did these different environments influence the mood and storytelling of the EP?
Underbelly was heavily inspired, tonally, by rural Wisconsin. My home there is nestled in a very naturally beautiful environment – it sits on a lake, and just behind it is a forest that opens up in several places to a prairie, a pond, and a cornfield. There’s a hiking path I love to walk down that weaves in and out of that forest, up and down hills, and through a valley. The natural beauty there just never fails to take my breath away. I feel so centered and at one with the earth when I’m there – I feel part of the trees and the grass and the lake water. This place pulls a very raw and acoustic sound from me. Then, bringing that song to New York, I find myself building up and out with a more experimental and expansive mind, where I might incorporate sounds I wouldn’t have thought of in Wisconsin. New York was the perfect place for me to form the songs into something newer and bigger.
Were there any books, films, or personal experiences that inspired you while writing these songs?
Each song on Underbelly is a very honest recount of an exact moment in my life. In my songwriting as a whole, I pride myself on being very historically and emotionally authentic. For example, ‘Underbelly’ is a recount of a trip I took with friends to a remote region of Costa Rica. ‘If I Kill You’ is about real conversations and experiences I’ve had with my little brother. ‘Horses Run’ is about the Devon Horse Show, which my girlfriend and I go to with her family every year. You get the gist—it’s all real conversations, real people, and real emotions. A through line in all of these moments of inspiration for me seems to be nature. I find myself very inspired by moments that happen outdoors in the natural world. I’ve always been such an outdoorsy person, and I think being in an open space around plants and animals and fresh air makes me consider patterns in my life or brings me to realizations I hadn’t had. As for books and films, this project specifically wasn’t rooted in or directly inspired by either type of media, but I will say I have been working on a song that is. Much to come!
There’s a raw honesty running through Underbelly. How do you decide what parts of yourself to share with listeners and what to keep private?
I once watched a video interview of Phoebe Bridgers talking about songwriting, and she spoke about having thoughts like, “Is this too personal? Am I allowed to say this?” and how those moments tend to be an indicator that the lyric is great. That really stuck with me because I feel like those lines that might feel “risky” or “too much” actually resonate with people on the deepest level because they are the lines that are not often said out loud. My favorite lyrics in the world are ones that describe emotions or experiences I’ve had but have not yet heard anyone put words to. To be honest, I haven’t drawn a line between what I sing about and what I keep private. Maybe someday that will have to change, but for now, I put it all out there.
Build A House is highlighted as the EP’s focus single. What inspired that track, and how does it set the tone for the rest of the project?
Build a House sets the tone for the rest of the project because when that first acoustic guitar strum hits at the beginning, I feel like it just sucks you into the world of Underbelly. It’s magnetic and transportive and hopeful and aching. There are many adjectives out there you can use to describe a song, and to me, this one is just pretty. I love the way it feels to sing, and I love the way it feels to listen to. It’s easy to listen to; it just kind of floats around you – like love. It makes you feel like you’re floating, and yet it’s not light and airy; it has weight and width to it. The choice to make it the focus track came from a simple feeling that it was the one to choose.
How did your emotional environment shape the recording process? Was there a moment of breakthrough or personal discovery that defined the EP’s direction?
I was in a very different emotional state when I wrote this project than with the last one. I think this really comes through in the instrumentation and lyrics of the songs. For one, I fell in love in a very sturdy and healthy way, which songs like Build a House and Horses Run describe. On top of that, my relationship with my little brother has strengthened immensely, and we’re closer friends than ever right now. My friendships, too, just feel so deeply fulfilling. While writing this project, I was really in an era of my life marked by the depth of my different loves, and that’s what Underbelly is about at the end of the day. It’s not that these relationships are perfect, but they’re strong enough to see the other side of conflict or turmoil. I feel like I’m always discovering how I feel about something as I’m writing about it. For example, with the song Always Will, I don’t think I realized the lines “…and I know cause you still do, so you always will. I always will. I always will” were my truth until I sang them. I never really realized how infinite that friendship is until I wrote that line.
Folk music is often associated with intimacy and nostalgia. Do you feel your generation is redefining the genre from a more contemporary or experimental place?
Folk music has definitely changed a lot throughout history. “Folk” is a very vague term in itself, just like “pop.” Folk started out as music for the “common folk”—it described the lives of common, regular people. It was informal in nature. Those “folk” we’re talking about here naturally evolve and change over time in lifestyle and culture, of course. I do think folk remains what it was in that it tells stories about daily life and romanticizes the seemingly mundane or unremarkable. That, to me, is one of the things that makes folk music so special. It sheds light on the profoundness of small things. I think that aspect has remained the same, but as music production becomes more accessible and available to people in their own homes, it has opened the door to a whole new world of experimentation across genres. We’re seeing a mass redefinition of genre, across the board, as people play with new sounds and techniques that push the boundaries of what was.
Could you share a studio anecdote that captures the spirit of Underbelly, something you remember fondly from the sessions?
The production process of this project was actually pretty interesting and unique from what I’ve done in the past. Initially, I wrote these songs myself and produced them alone in my bedroom. I thought I wanted the project to be entirely self-made… until I met Lanham. Lanham Scofield is an incredible producer and a student at the Clive Davis Institute at NYU. I’d heard his work before and thought I’d write a song with him, if anything, just to know him and gain a potential future collaborator in him. I showed him Lacy just to get his thoughts, and he loved it. Unbelievably, I felt like he immediately and deeply understood who I was as an artist right off the bat. I decided I wanted him to co-produce this project with me, so we went into the studio at NYU and spent many, many hours rerecording most of what I’d done with much better equipment and Lanham’s incredible ear and production skills. He also added some stunning instrumental parts and textural elements of his own and just really helped me mold the songs into what they are today. I truly found a lifelong collaborator in the process of creating Underbelly.
If you had to describe Underbelly through an image or metaphor, what would it be and why?
Underbelly in itself is a metaphor. It describes the vulnerability you have to open yourself up to love and be loved. It also describes the truth and honesty of my songwriting on this project.
You mention that some listeners experience your music in profoundly personal ways. Have any fan experiences or feedback particularly moved you or changed the way you write?
I’ve discovered that my most “specific” lyrics are actually my most resonant. Through talking with listeners, I’ve come to the realization that my life and my thoughts really aren’t so unique from everyone else’s. When I talk about something specific that happened in my life, and that thing also happened in someone else’s, there’s this magical moment of connection and visibility for that listener. Getting this feedback from fans has only pushed me more in the direction of ultra specificity.
Looking ahead, how do you imagine your evolution after this release? Are there new sounds or collaborations you’d like to explore next?
I’d like to add some more electric guitar to my songs. I’ve been really inspired by Ethel Cain lately, and I love the sound she brings out of an electric guitar. I’m imagining ambient, ethereal, haunting. I’m always going to stay true to my acoustic guitar roots, though, so do not worry; they’ll be in there.
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Credit: Photos by Noa Griffel
