When HANIA RANI reintroduced herself this spring with ‘Hello’, the preliminary taster for her new album, GHOSTS, it most likely startled many who’ve come to love her work. Otherworldly yet upbeat, its mischievous melody, eloquent Rhodes piano, sparkling synths and nimble rhythms offered little indication of the New Classical style with which her acclaimed solo debut, 2019’s Esja, is sometimes associated. The song’s playful use of vocals and generally frisky nature is also at odds with the mood of 2020’s Home, Esja’s expansive follow up, where she first unveiled her remarkable voice and proved herself similarly inspired with electronic processing and arrangements. The truth, however, is that nothing she’s recorded gave advance warning of ‘Hello’, and that’s still not it’s most striking attribute. Instead, that’s how it represents just one of GHOSTS’ many dimensions, in turn making it a perfect initiation to HANIA RANI’s supernatural talent.
RANI, who grew up in Gdansk, Poland and currently divides her time between Warsaw and Berlin, is probably still best known for Esja, its instrumental piano pieces swiftly and widely embraced during the pandemic for a palliative beauty which BBC Radio 4’s Mark Coles described as “sublime and minimalist”. (Her Covid era Live from Studio S2 performance video has now clocked up almost 6 million views.) Nonetheless, she’s always embraced broad horizons, far broader than her strict, two-decade training as a pianist might initially suggest. Alongside her classical activities, most notably awardwinning collaborations with cellist Dobrawa Czocher, not to mention her first piano concerto, For Josima, premiered this spring, she was for a while one half of Poland’s respected alternative pop duo Tęskno. She’s also worked with other media, releasing a ‘highlights’ reel, Music for Film and Theatre, in 2021, and her scores include Piotr Domalewski’s I Never Cry, winner of the 2020 Polish Film Festival’s Best Score award, last year’s Venice – Infinitely Avantgarde and, coming later this year, Amazon’s The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.
