Meet Blood Lotus, the emerging musical project of Hannah Wu whose work blurs the boundaries between club music, ambient soundscapes, experimental R&B, avant-garde, and traditional Chinese instrumentation. Today she announces her debut album Middle of the Night out August 4th, with new single ‘Nightfall’ featuring Sydney-based project Heart Armour, alongside a new video directed by David Tse. LISTEN HERE + WATCH HERE.

Created in collaboration with Heart Armour, ‘Nightfall’ captures the fragile intimacy of late-night phone calls and the suspended emotional state of limerence. With a sonic world that feels both intimate and expansive, Blood Lotus constructs spectral environments where past and future coexist in constant motion. Written in a single session during a studio session, this track explores the quiet tension that exists in the space between friendship and romance. Hannah Wu’s delicate, emotive vocals drift across shapeshifting beats, supported by oscillating synths and glistening strings that ebb and flow.

Watch: ‘Nightfall’ (Official Video)

Shot in Taiwan and directed by David Tse, Nightfall’s music video creates an atmosphere that visually depicts the song’s emotional landscape, pulling listeners deeper into its atmosphere. Tse shares “We went to Taiwan and filmed four music videos in a week, all very much inspired and influenced by different subsets of Asian new wave cinema, particularly Taiwanese and Hong Kong New Wave. It was actually my very first time in Asia! I found the experience incredibly special and moving”. Shot on 16mm by Joey Knox, with minimal crew – the small team showcases the emotiveness of the track working almost solely with natural light, letting the natural beauty of Taipei guide them.

With her debut album Middle of the Night on the way, Blood Lotus continues to carve out her sonic identity. Symbolising a period of growth for Wu, her work shapes into something that can be only defined as her own. Inspiring those who collaborated on the project, working closely with producers Kuya Neil and Voidhood to shape this creative chapter,  Wu’s attention to detail and care of her work pushed her creative team to experiment with new sounds and ways of working.

Speaking the heart of Middle of the Night‘s collaborative environment, Kuya Neil shares “The production and recording process with Blood Lotus was something new and exciting for us. Sharing production duties with Voidhood, we were able to focus on all our strengths in the sessions and keep the momentum, taking turns adding elements and building off each other’s ideas in real time”.

Named after the time and process of writing the album, in the hours between dusk and dawn in bedrooms, hotel rooms, music studios, driving in cars, on the backs of motorbikes, on night walks, on long phone calls, during a summer spent in Taipei. Blood Lotus evokes the memory of a relationship’s ending, the grief of heartbreak while reflecting on his transformative power, the poetics of desire and the transition from experiencing loss to letting go. The 10-track debut album includes the previously released singles ‘Motions’, ‘Dragonfruit’ and ‘Corpus’ which has garnered praise from triple j’s Kailyn Crabbe, Liminal Mag, fbi.radio and more. As excitement around the project builds, ‘Nightfall’ offers a glimpse into the depth of what’s to come.