ARTIST

Folk-pop singer and songwriter Hemma’s music comes from her deep experience as musician, student of dance and art and life. Hannah Hebl, whose nom de music is Hemma, Swedish for “home,” spent much of her childhood with her family’s band, The Hebl Family Singers, and learned the ins and outs of recording studios, performing, songwriting and guitar and piano. For the young Hannah, her big ears for music took in Prince, Joni Mitchell, Broadway musicals, Los Angeles folk rock, and much more.

After beginning her career as Hemma a decade ago, she cut her debut EP Hallelu with producer Jaime Hansen, whom she credits for pushing her into doing what she was meant to do. She was 20, and the following years took her to San Francisco to study art, Montreal for dance, with songs being written at a constant rate. Tomorrow River, which appeared in 2019, was a six-song EP that ranged across pop electronica and Brian Eno-esque songcraft and jazz-inflected, Joni Mitchell-style folk.

Hemma continues to push the margins of pop-folk on her newest album, Abalone Sky, released in 2025. It’s a ripening and crystalizing of her sound—a sonic signature that serves as an artist’s mission statement. Songs on the full-length Abalone Sky, drew upon a weighty conversation she and her sister had with their mother about the most universal of emotions. “Grief” is a kind of co-write that came out of that conversation, and it’s also the song that started the very fruitful collaboration among Hemma, Bon Iver drummer and supporting vocalist Sean Carey and Brian Joseph, who produced the tracks for Abalone Sky at Brian’s Eau Claire, Wisconsin recording studio, hive. Hemma’s stellar band is comprised of Sean Carey (vocals, piano, drums), Jeremy Boettcher (bass), Ben Lester (prophet keyboard, pedal steel guitar), Liz Eldridge (harmonies), and Hannah Hebl (lead vocals, guitar).

“Like Sarah Jarosz, whose recent work with producer and songwriter Daniel Tashian expands the sonic palette of folk rock, Hemma tweaks the arrangements and sonics on Abalone Sky with production that pushes at the edges of folk-rock orthodoxy.”— Americana Highways

Since the release of Abalone Sky in 2025, Hannah has enjoyed a prolific year recording and bringing her style to stages in the Midwest. These include shows at Minneapolis’ Turf Club, Icehouse, Saint Paul’s Lakeside Guitar Festival and Eau Claire’s Pablo Center at the Confluence.

Her latest single track, “Boarding School Blues” is Hemma’s art at its most personal and emotional. The empathy and feel for the contingencies of the world that inform Abalone Sky continue to be at the fore, and her sound has evolved—rich, full and brimming with wisdom. For all of us who’ve left home full of anticipation and expectation, and who’ve seen how important it is to remember just how important home is, it’s another facet of Hemma’s music.

Along the way, Hemma has opened for artists Marika Hackman, Ye Vagabonds, Molly Dean, Mike Kota, S. Carey, Humbird and The Cactus Blossoms, enlarging her presence in the music scene. Hemma has also become known as a superb backing vocalist who’s sung with many of the artists in the vibrant Eau Claire-Twin Cities. Her versatility extends to the recording studio and to the stage, in equal measures.

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