Hania Rani for Progressive Electronic

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This young artist from Gdansk, Poland, was trained as a classical pianist but moved into jazz and experimental sounds in her 20s (she's now 33). Though her recent compositions continue to have jazz, chamber, and even pop elements, they are much more etheric and electronic, never failing to conjure up comparisons to some of the more recent electronica artists whose cinematic work often spills over into prog or near-proggy soundscapes. 
She has a page on Bandcamp.com { https://haniarani.bandcamp.com/ } on which I would strongly recommend the curious listener to try out Ghosts, (or try out her 90-minute video on her own web page [haniarani.com]  "Ghosts Album Launch from Studio S1 in Warsaw") but her YouTube videos of her Cercle concert at Les Invalides (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5oZ80Daduc&ab_channel=Cercle) and other studio albums are equally telling of her talents and intentions.

 I truly believe she belongs here in the PA database. This new cinematic chamber electronica is the 2020's equivalent to the "Berlin School" in the 1970s.

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BrufordFreak Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: January 25 2008 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 7955	Post Options Post Reply Quote BrufordFreak Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Hania Rani for Progressive Electronic Posted: October 25 2023 at 10:15
	This young artist from Gdansk, Poland, was trained as a classical pianist but moved into jazz and experimental sounds in her 20s (she's now 33). Though her recent compositions continue to have jazz, chamber, and even pop elements, they are much more etheric and electronic, never failing to conjure up comparisons to some of the more recent electronica artists whose cinematic work often spills over into prog or near-proggy soundscapes. She has a page on Bandcamp.com { https://haniarani.bandcamp.com/ } on which I would strongly recommend the curious listener to try out Ghosts, (or try out her 90-minute video on her own web page [haniarani.com] "Ghosts Album Launch from Studio S1 in Warsaw") but her YouTube videos of her Cercle concert at Les Invalides (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5oZ80Daduc&ab_channel=Cercle) and other studio albums are equally telling of her talents and intentions. I truly believe she belongs here in the PA database. This new cinematic chamber electronica is the 2020's equivalent to the "Berlin School" in the 1970s.
	Drew Fisher https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/

Sean Trane Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Prog Folk Joined: April 29 2004 Location: Heart of Europe Status: Offline Points: 19626	Post Options Post Reply Quote Sean Trane Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: October 25 2023 at 10:42
	mmmmhhh!!!!... I saw her at the Gondwana Record tour last Saturday with Matthew Halsall as the main attraction. Interesting stuff and the opening tracks had me think of Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh, but once she she started singing, it became a cross of post rock and Bjork. Later on in the set, it became a sort of techno-house beat, which lost me. From the concert experience, I'm mixed, but will listen to her BC (I was planning on it anyways). .
	let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword

BrufordFreak Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: January 25 2008 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 7955	Post Options Post Reply Quote BrufordFreak Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: December 27 2023 at 08:58
	*HANIA RANI Ghosts* (2023)** Hania Rani is a classically-trained pianist from Poland who, post graduation, has found herself enamored of the sounds and potentialities of other electronic keyboards as well as collaborative explorations (and the potential of expressing with her own voice and words!). This studio album, her first of all her own material and representing a very broad spectrum of musical styles and sound palettes (including singing), is perfectly representative of many of her personal experiments. The video entitled "Hania Rani - Ghosts Album Launch: Studio 1, Polish Radio, Warsaw," from October 6, 2023 available for viewing on YouTube is an incredible demonstration of the power of this album. 1. "Otre Terra" (2:39) muchmore elctronic than I was expecting for an album opener--especially knowing Hania's training and background as a classical piano performer. (4.625/5) 2. "Hello" (5:08) driving, mesmerizing and hypnotic. (9/10) 3. "Don't Break My Heart" (5:22) a voice that sounds like a cross between a soprano Billie Holiday and James Blake. Great piano melodies. (8.875/10) 4. "24.03" (4:13) Berlin School sequencing--on the thick, heavy side! (9/10) 5. "Dancing with Ghosts" (4:59) a wonderfully ethereal duet between Hania and Patrick Watson. (8.875/10) 6. "A Day in Never" (4:26) this being my first exposure to the voice and vocal stylings of Hania Rani, I'm drawn to compare her light, airy, often whispery and ethereal voice and style to that of the great Norwegian prog folk singer, Tirill Mohn. (8.75/10) 7. "Whispering House" (4:53) a very Harold Budd-like collaboration with friend and mentor Ólafur Arnalds. (8.75/10) 8. "The Boat" (7:06) like the clinking of empty boats in a harbor, the sounds of the inner workings of a piano are here used to emulate such, as if the harbor were experiencing a down day due to an encroaching storm. Nice. Very sensory conjurative in a Brian Eno-esque way. (13.25/15) 9. "Moans" (4:34) a kind of a ghost rondo with Hania's Jane Siberry/Stina Nordenstam/Becky Jarret/Billie Eilish/Marit Elizabeth Svendsboe/Anna Järvinen voice. (8.75/10) 10. "Thin Line" (4:18) in her most little-girlish ingénue voice, Hania sings as if treading carefully through a dream. (8.75/10) 11. "Komeda" (11:03) lower C electric piano arpeggio over which other piano notes, incidentals, and arpeggi are played (along with some electronically-produced and -treated percussives). Grand piano becomes more aggressive and dominant in the middle before backing down and letting the electronics and electric piano have the stage again. Lots of very nice, interesting incidentals to keep one interested. Nice. (18/20) 12. "Utrata" (4:12) oddly-treated or -effected piano chords bounce along while Hania sings--often doubling up with her own ethereal voice acting as harmony/background singer. Great strings arrangement for the second half. Definitely a high point of the album. (9/10) 13. "Nostalgia" (3:27) as if a melody line from a classical piece were being rendered unto a zither or old and cranky, much-abused upright piano. Very evocative and virtuosic. A top three song for me. (9.5/10) 89.375 on the Fishscales = B+/4.5 stars; a wonderfully creative and diverse collection of electronically- and classically-rendered music in the crossover/electronic subgenre of progressive music. I think this is an album that many prog lovers will find enjoyable and interesting. Hania Rani is one talented, highly creative young artist that I will be watching and following for a long time.
	Drew Fisher https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/