Culture
Hannah Cohen discusses eclectic influences, eclipse inspiration, and Cocteau Twins partnership shock
By: Ian Saint
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NELSONVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) — Hannah Cohen is renowned for her ethereal vocals, lushly orchestrated music, and vibrant visuals, which she’ll showcase at the 2026 Nelsonville Music Festival Saturday. But she still tackles the drudgery of dreaded chores, including a DMV visit that delayed her WOUB interview.
“So sorry I had to push it back,” she laments from inside her tour van with a near-exhausted phone battery. “I was in DMV Hellville for three hours. I’m getting my tour van ready to go, because I’m a responsible bandleader and want to ensure that my s*** doesn’t f***ing fall apart and we’re stranded in the middle of Ohio.”
Cohen’s Nelsonville performance marks a return to the area after she played Mountain Stage in Marietta last October, fittingly, given her latest album’s title, Earthstar Mountain.
A transcript of her conversation with WOUB’s Ian Saint, edited for length and clarity, follows.
Hannah Cohen: I grew up going to Cleveland. I have aunties there; my cousin just sold her Jewish deli, Jack’s. My sister and I would stay with Aunt Carolyn in summers. She just passed last year; but I (went to) Cleveland for her 90th birthday, when the eclipse happened at the senior home — on this beautiful pond with reflections, and the sky went black. A full-on eclipse in Cleveland, with so much family. It was very moving and powerful.
Ian Saint: Did you hear the night creatures when totality hit?
Hannah Cohen: Yeah, that was wild. I had tears. Imagine that happening (millennia ago) and it being a psychedelic spiritual thing when you didn’t know about science…
Ian Saint: Especially when you’re still learning which mushrooms are safe to eat. I shudder to imagine somebody ate cremini mushrooms, a total solar eclipse occurred and they concluded “cremini mushrooms are delicious, but dangerous.”
Hannah Cohen: Yeah, totally. I think about that all the time.
Ian Saint: I love your new “Golden Chain” music video. I was very struck, watching on YouTube, because it was filmed vertically but there are trees in the margins — even when you’re in urban scenes.
Hannah Cohen: Thank you for noticing. That was a post-production decision, because everything nowadays is filmed to be on your phone. To fill black (margins) for YouTube and whatever, we wanted it to have more nature. And it still works with all the changing shots, which is really cool.
Ian Saint:“Summer Sweat” surprised me, as it reminds me somewhat of early Donna Summer — but very you. Is Donna an influence? What other influences might people find surprising?
Hannah Cohen: Donna Summer is a huge inspiration, and Minnie Riperton. I listen to so many different types of music. I listen to rap; I love TiaCorine. But I listen to psychedelic Turkish folk psych music; Brazilian instrumental music is a huge influence. I listen to country, pop, everything. My music has so many different ways it’s pulled. I think the “Summer Sweat” chorus was (subconsciously) inspired by this 1970 record (Per un pugno di samba) by Chico Buarque and Ennio Morricone, the Italian writer who did over 400 film scores — all the Spaghetti Westerns. He worked with Chico after Chico left Brazil during political unrest and went to Italy. “Funeral de um lavrador” has this chorus of young singers that sing really high, and harmony that’s really crazy. I’ll send you the song.
Ian Saint: You just got me thinking about how millennials were the first youth generation that had access to global music at their fingertips.
Hannah Cohen: Yeah. My parents exposed me to lots of music because my dad’s a jazz drummer, but then I was exploring the Internet in my glorious times of being a young person exploring music. I moved to New York when I was 17. I got into Brazilian Tropicália music when I was 18. I had an ex-boyfriend who was older than me, and got me into Brazilian music — I’m grateful for that part. The music scene that I was hanging with, they were all 20 years older than me, so they were hipping me to lots of stuff. And I went down those YouTube wormholes. My early 20s was very much exploratory YouTube wormholes, going to record shops, and finding crazy and beautiful s***.
Ian Saint: I listened to your whole catalog…
Hannah Cohen: Don’t listen to the whole catalog.
Ian Saint: Why?
Hannah Cohen: Oh, I’ve heard interviews with people like, “I’d cry if you heard the first music I ever wrote.” I just feel I really found my stride of what I want to be saying and the music I want to be making on my last record, Earthstar Mountain. There are (older) songs that I still love, like “Baby,” but I don’t really listen to my music after I’m done making it — so I don’t even know what’s going on with those records. They’re keepsakes of time, and what was happening in my life.
Ian Saint: Which older songs stand out for resonating with you differently today versus when you recorded them?
Hannah Cohen: “Old Bruiser” on (2019’s) Welcome Home has some more hidden meaning to me now, coming through the other side. That song is very loaded and coded.
Ian Saint: You mentioned “Baby.” I love that, plus “Lilacs,” on (2015’s) Pleasure Boy.
Hannah Cohen: Oh, “Lilacs” — yeah, that was a favorite one of mine, that’s (also) loaded and coded. “Baby,” I love; and “Claremont Song” is special to me for sure. I’m writing a new record and so excited to move on to new stuff; but I’m still touring and very much in Earthstar Mountain world, and love being in it. We’ve been stretching out the songs while performing them, (which) turned those songs into their own thing in the live form, so it’s fun.
Ian Saint: I noticed all your records are on Bella Union, the record label founded by the Cocteau Twins. How did that partnership come about?
Hannah Cohen:Yeah, Simon Raymonde signed me just before I turned 25. I was working with his manager, Foye Johnson; he was shopping the record, and Simon took interest. I was such a fan of Cocteau Twins — “Sugar Hiccup” rocked my world, I’d never heard anything like that. I couldn’t believe someone in that band was interested in my music or saw anything in me. He’s been such a supporter of me all these years, and all the different directions that I’ve gone — that isn’t everybody’s experience with a record label. He makes time to sit with a song and send you feedback. I am just super lucky and grateful to have that friendship — most importantly, it’s a friendship.