Manchester’s Gondwana Records has just released the eagerly-awaited solo debut, titled Esja, from classically-trained Polish pianist, composer, and arranger Hania Rani.

Inspired by her own experiences in Berlin, Iceland, and the wild mountains in Bieszczady, this brilliant new recording is the 29-year-old pianists’ most personal work to date. Recorded in the pianist’s Warsaw apartment on an upright piano, Rani was able to utilize the reverberating environment of the studio-like space to create beautiful piano-based compositions that delicately capture the intricate sounds of the keys, hammers, and atmospheric tones. The music is certainly sensual, atmospheric, and explores harmonic possibilities with a strong sense of time and space. At times, it almost sounds like an intimate performance in someone’s living room.

Through her strong conceptual vision for this recording, Hania Rani has truly delivered an impressive debut that beautifully takes the listener on a mesmerizing and powerfully moving musical journey that’s easy to get lost in (in a good way). Overall, this certainly might be the best solo piano recording of 2019. Highly recommended for fans of Philip Glass, Nils Frahm, Dustin O’Halloran, and Ludovico Einaudi.

Hania Rani — ‘Esja’
(Gondwana Records)

1. Eden
2. Sun
3. Hawaii Oslo
4. Pour Trois
5. Biesy
6. Luka
7. Glass
8. Today It Came
9. Esja
10. Now, Run

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