When I write music, it has a very visual place in my mind. It has a place full of characters, colours and landscapes
Lilian Hak is an independent producer, songwriter, composer, vocalist and performer from The Netherlands. She creates music for film, media, theatre, podcast, artists, and also performs herself. Last year, she released her fifth album RESET, featuring eleven original cinematic indie- pop songs, and toured small theaters that fall.
Lilian enjoys multidisciplinary work and has created productions in collaboration with Toneelgroep Oostpool, the Melkweg/Paradiso Production House, and De Nieuwe Oost. She also presented her own multimedia shows at De Parade festival: Voyeur, Vive le Voyeur! and Ssst… Niet Zingen AUB.
She recently composed music for the documentary: Mijn Noord, broadcast by HUMAN on NPO 2 and available on NPO Start. The documentary received extensive media attention, including from Het Parool, de Volkskrant, and VPRO’s Nooit Meer Slapen. Mijn Noord became the second most-watched documentary on NPO in 2025.
Lilian Hak has been nominated for the Buma Music in Media Award 2026 (MIMAs) in the documentary category. The soundtrack she made for this documentary is on Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal.
As a composer working across documentary film, theatre, artists and commercial work, she approaches music as a way to shape emotional storytelling. She collaborates with professional musicians, blending live instruments with analog, digital, and field recordings. Her work focuses on emotion, dynamic contrast, and the physicality of sound, often creating or modifying instruments to build a unique sonic world for each project. Collaboration is central to her process.
Her music spans cinematic pop, jazz, indie, and avant-garde electronica, with rich, playful, and powerful arrangements that reflect her versatility. And her musical interests extend across a wide range of genres, loves old movie soundtracks and is influenced by scenes from Bacall and Bogart film noir. Drawing inspiration from artists like Portishead, Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin and the French atmosphere of Air and Gainsbourg.
She has performed across Europe, appearing at festivals, theatres, and renowned venues in The Netherlands, both as a solo artist and alongside her band, a string quartet, and even a full orchestra. She has shared the stage with acts like M83, The Kills and Kashmir, earning media attention and features on prime-time Dutch television and radio, as well as a radio live performance on New York’s WFMU.
With four full- length albums, multiple singles, and remixes to her name, Lilian has collaborated with artists such as Ozark Henry, Wouter Hamel, T.Raumschmiere, Matthew Herbert, Scanner, Pitto, iET and LHISPR.
Aside from her own projects she also works as a voice-over actor. Since 2015 Lilian Hak has been working as a Dutch voice-over artist for TV, radio, commercials and corporate projects. She voices campaigns for Vitaepro, Nespresso, Scheepvaart Museum, Always, Krant.nl, Movir, Vrije Academie, NIX18, BBCfirst, Rijksmuseum, EKO keurmerk, among others. Listen to her showreel. Her professional studio is available 24/7 allowing, her to handle recording, editing and mixing independently.
In 2022 she has co-written, produced and mixed the album ‘Little Torch’ of jazz singer Wouter Hamel. The song ‘Lucky Streak‘, a duet they wrote, has been featured in the Holland America Line TV & Radio commercials from 2022 till 2025. A music video for the song Lucky streak was created by Chris de Krijger.
In the end of 2023 she released her indie urban love song ‘City Is My Home‘, co-produced it with Marien Dorleijn (Moss). In 2024 she released her singles ‘Under The Wire‘ and ‘No Control’. Both indie-pop tracks, written and produced by herself and a co-production with Paul Willemsen. In the summer of 2024 she released ‘Last Song’. A jazzy and cinematic, conjuring up bossa nova anthem with an accordeon featuring of the virtuoso Dutch jazz musician Bert van den Brink. The song ‘Mother’, released in November 2024, was inspired by the grief and loss of her mother. For both tracks she collaborated in the studio with producer Ward Henselmans.
Lilian Hak continues to expand her creative horizons with her fifth studio-album RESET (2025), blending indie, soul, pop, and cinematic influences. Launched with a sold-out concert at TivoliVredenburg and received glowing reviews. Where Hak, in her earlier work, drew inspiration from film genres like film noir and spaghetti westerns, this time her own life takes center stage. The result is a deeply personal album.
A few first press quotes from The Netherlands and the UK.
“Hak’s weelderig lome stem staat aantrekkelijk op de voorgrond in nogal nostalgische chansonachtige composities.” – NRC
“Perfect gezongen, gespeeld en geproduceerd.” – Lust For Life Magazine
“Het is een gevarieerd album. met een James Bond-achtige vibe in I Will Ever Be Your Head, het hitgevoelige Under The Wire, bossanova in Last Song en een fijn koortje in The Best Is Yet To Come.” – OOR
“Wat alle elf tracks samenbindt is niet alleen de warmbloedige sfeer, maar ook de onberispelijk geraffineerde productie, die het luisteren naar Reset tot een verfijnd genoegen maakt.” – Jazzism
“Op RESET zijn de filmische invloeden uit haar twee voorafgaande albums nog geregeld te horen, maar het album springt tegelijkertijd over naar jazz en soul, wat een interessante mix van genres oplevert.” – 3voor12
“Een indrukwekkend album: in muzikaal opzicht zit het allemaal weer razend knap in elkaar en ook de zang van Lilian Hak is weer van hoog niveau.” – De Krenten Uit De Pop
“The single I Will Ever Be Your Head is a stunning opener that sets the toner for a truly spectacular album.” – Playy Magazine (UK)
“Hak walks into the spotlight with a shimmering performance, capturing the momentum of a James Bond soundtrack” – Clash Magazine (UK)
Interview “Getting to know Lilian Hak” – Mystic Sons (UK)
“With RESET, Hak pushes into an exciting and original sonic and narrative territory” – Backseat Mafia (UK)
A few reviews of Lilian Hak’s previous albums:
“The songs are too good, too original in a modern way, produced with the latest technology” – Volkskrant (Dutch daily newspaper)
“Very attractive and theatrical combination of Lilian’s dramatic vocals and caricaturised, orchestral accompaniment of violins and horns” – NRC (Dutch daily newspaper)
“Old Powder New Guns is burlesque, theatrical and with the grand gesture” – OOR (Dutch music magazine)
“Lust Guns & Dust is a great pop album which Lilian Hak once again proves her versatility as a producer”– VPRO 3voor12 (Dutch alternative music platform)
“You don’t hear a rehash of musical themes, but creative ingenious songs, expressive as an audio play”– Platomania (Dutch record store platform)
