Born in Toronto as Hannah Bussiere Kim, the Korean-Canadian artist received classical instruction before enrolling at McGill University in Montreal to pursue violin studies. She ultimately left the program to pursue rock music, assembling the band Veins, and later adopted the name Luna Li in response to a personal affinity for the natural world and especially lunar imagery. Her first release, the 2017 EP Opal Angel, blended dream pop with garage rock textures, and she began appearing alone on stage equipped only with guitar, violin, and looping equipment while issuing standalone tracks such as “Silver into Rain” and “Trying.”
Equally adept at crafting sweetly psychedelic indie pop songs and concise, rhythm-focused instrumentals, Luna Li had already issued her debut EP by 2017, yet wider recognition arrived several years afterward through a series of short, self-made instrumental clips shared online. Ten of those pieces were later compiled on the 2021 EP Jams. During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown she began filming one-minute bedroom recordings that featured harp, violin, keyboards, and guitar, occupying a stylistic space between lo-fi hip-hop, city pop, and psychedelia. The videos attracted a substantial digital audience, leading to a performance before millions of viewers during 88Rising’s ASIA RISING FOREVER live stream. She subsequently joined the bills of Japanese Breakfast, appeared on Moby’s Reprise and Dizzy’s Separate Places, and issued the singles “Cherry Pit,” “Alone But Not Lonely,” and “Flower (In Full Bloom).”
Her full-length debut, Duality, arrived in 2022 via In Real Life and included contributions from Jay Som, Dreamer Isioma, and Beabadoobee; a second short collection, Jams 2, followed shortly thereafter. After relocating to Los Angeles in the wake of an eight-year relationship’s conclusion, she created her sophomore album, When a Thought Grows Wings, released in 2024 and co-produced with Andrew Lappin and Monsune.
