Aldous Harding

Hannah Harding (born 1990 as Hannah Sian Topp), known professionally as Aldous Harding , is an indie folk singer-songwriter from Lyttelton, New Zealand. She is known for her "elastic, shape-shifting voice", inspired by English folk music. She then signed with 4AD to team up with producer John Parish in Wales. With the 2017 release of her album Party, The Guardian called her "one of the most original songwriters around". Designer in 2019 was described as "warm and full of humor", and "simply extraordinary".

Two months after the release Metacritic listed Designer as the world's seventh most critically acclaimed album of 2019, The single "The Barrel" won the APRA Silver Scroll Award. Released in 2022, Harding's fourth album, Warm Chris consolidated the acclaim.

Childhood Born in 1990, Harding was born as Hannah Sian Topp; Harding is her stepfather's surname. and thought about becoming a vet. But singing was natural to her. At Logan Park High School in Dunedin she started singing together with her friend Nadia Reid and attended music class. She was 15 when she wrote her first song and "realised I quite like to write songs". But Lyttelton, which had a small but vibrant musical scene (featuring artists which received international acclaim, such as Marlon Williams, Nadia Reid, and Tiny Ruins ) near Christchurch was decisive for her musical career.

She has released music through independent record labels Flying Nun, Spunk, and 4AD. She has collaborated with Marlon Williams, John Parish, Mike Hadreas (better known by his stage name Perfume Genius), She is known to frequently collaborate with music video director Martin Sagadin.

4AD announced Harding as a new signing in early 2017 just prior to the release of her second studio album, Party. Party was nominated for IMPALA's European Album of the Year Award. Harding won two awards at the NZ Music Awards in 2017 - Breakthrough Artist and Alternative. She was also nominated for Best Solo Artist and Album Of The Year, for Party. The album won the Taite Prize in 2018.

The song "The Barrel", from her third studio album Designer, won the 2019 APRA Silver Scroll award. The album was nominated for the 2020 Taite Music Prize. Harding won one award at the NZ Music Awards in 2019 - Alternative. She was also nominated for Album Of The Year, for Designer, Single Of The Year, and Best Solo Artist.

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. The album was nominated for Album Of The Year at the NZ Music Awards in 2022.

Discography All albums released as LP, CD and digital files. Studio albums

Other charted songs + List of other charted songs, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Album NZHot "Ennui" 2022 40 Warm Chris "Tick Tock" 31 "I Ate the Most" 2026 26 Train on the Island "Train on the Island" 28 "Worms" 31