Watch Hanna & Kerttu’s poetic music video tribute to St Petersburg

Childhood fairytales and forbidding northern landscapes have long been a source of inspiration for enigmatic pop duo Hanna & Kerttu. Their latest single, “You Would Grow Up”, is a reflection on the transition from a child’s world of play and pretend into adolescence.

The video for the track was shot in St Petersburg, the birthplace of the now Berlin-based vocalist and songwriter Victoria Trunova, who formed Hanna & Kerttu in 2011. “Any place you’ve lived and called your home will leave an impression on the creative process. Even though I didn’t spend too much time in St Petersburg, the city remains a place evoking childhood memories,” she told The Calvert Journal. Trunova later moved to Helsinki, Oslo, and Bergen. The cold weather, the winds, and churning sea which unite all of Trunova’s adopted cities have a strong resonance in the clip, which was directed by multidisciplinary artist Dagmar Gertot.

After recording their latest album, Unfold, during the pandemic, Trunova says it was important for the group to collaborate with talent across the world. Dagmar Gertot is an artist, as well as the art director and co-creator of the avant-garde menswear brand Nomad Goba. “She represents the huge underground scene of creative minds in Russia,” Trunova explains. True to Gertot’s abstract and monochrome style, the video was shot in black and white and features imagery of knots and rope — both a nod to St Petersburg’s naval history, and a metaphor for the entanglement of encroaching adolescence.

“Most of the songs on Unfold are melancholic. Yet, all of them have some significant call to action, ” says Trunova. Meanwhile resilience is the defining message of “You Would Grow Up” — an anchor to any young person weathering an emotional storm.

Listen to Hanna & Kerttu on Spotify.