Aldous Harding

BIOGRAPHY

Aldous Harding is the stage name of Hannah Sian Topp (b. 1990), a singer-songwriter from Lyttelton, New Zealand. Raised by musician parents, she taught herself guitar as a teenager and began busking in Christchurch, where she was invited to join the Americana collective The Eastern, touring for two years and opening for acts including Old Crow Medicine Show and Fleetwood Mac. She later adopted the name Aldous Harding, inspired by author Aldous Huxley, and released her self-titled debut in 2014 with producers Ben Edwards and Marlon Williams. Harding signed to 4AD for 2017's Party, produced with John Parish (PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse); its single "The Barrel" won the APRA Silver Scroll, New Zealand's top songwriting prize. She and Parish reunited for 2019's Designer, and her fourth album, Warm Chris (2022), was recorded live to tape at Rockfield Studios with contributors including Seb Rochford and Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods. She has since relocated to Cardiff, Wales.

WHY THEY'RE COOL

Harding's music moves from the gothic, hushed indie folk of her 2015 debut—compared to Kate Bush and Scott Walker—toward the stranger, off-kilter pop of Party, Designer, and Warm Chris, often likened to Cate Le Bon and Nico. Critics single out her theatrical delivery and surreal lyricism: Rolling Stone called "The Barrel" a song that "sets a surrealist table of objects: peaches, a ferret, an egg, a barrel," while NME and Clash praised Designer's quiet intensity and disciplined craft. That mix of eerie stagecraft and songwriting rigor won her New Zealand's top songwriting honor, the APRA Silver Scroll, beating finalists including Benee and The Beths.

GEORGE'S PLAYS

George has played this artist 37 times.

PLAYED ON WOKE1

• Venus in the Zinnia7 PLAYS
• I Ate the Most4 PLAYS
• Three Hours3 PLAYS