Hachiku, the musical project led by Anika Ostendorf, has released a new single titled ‘Keep on Swimming’, which is part of their upcoming second album, The Joys of Being Pure at Heart, set to be released on February 28 through Marathon Artists. The album also includes previously released tracks ‘Time Wasted Worrying’ and ‘Tell Your Friends You Love Them’. The new song features harpist Mary Lattimore, as well as violin and cello from the classical music group The Newmarket Collective.
“During the pandemic, I found myself contemplating whether I should swim from Australia back to Germany or dig a tunnel through the earth. This song is a love letter to my family back home and everyone I’ve missed,” Ostendorf shared. “There’s a certain bittersweetness in the repeated goodbyes and the self-inflicted heartache of choosing to move to the other side of the world. Always wondering and worrying, yet holding onto the belief that it was for a good reason.”
The music video for ‘Keep on Swimming’ was filmed in Berlin and directed by Tom Mannion and Caity Moloney. “I really wanted to shoot the video back home in Germany. The semi-bleak concrete architecture feels nostalgic to me as it reminds me of my younger self growing up just outside of Cologne,” Ostendorf explained.