The sky is slate grey, the winter far too long. But gradually a ray of light fights its way into the room through a crack in the curtains. For a brief moment it smells like spring. Hania Rani’s new album »On Giacometti« captures exactly this feeling. As darkness prevails, light always triumphs in the end. And the longer you allow yourself to drift through the thirteen tracks, the longer the days become. The Polish pianist creates a feeling that is difficult to force. The atmosphere created in the restrained piano pieces does not nestle in the room, but first builds it up. One moment you find yourself in fantastic worlds à la Guillermo del Torro, the next you are a lonely wanderer above an ocean of fog. Incidentally, »On Giacometti« was created while shooting a film by Susanna Fanzun about the Giacometti family in the Swiss mountains. The existential in Giacometti’s work is hence transported from the Swiss valley into your own bedroom through Hania Rani’s radical melancholy. In contrast to Rani’s previous album »Home«, the artist allows her voice to remain silent and lets only the piano speak on »On Giacometti«. Nevertheless, »Spring« does come across as an unwitting continuation of Tori Amos’ »Winter«. No wonder Rani wrote the following on the album’s release: »I left the valley with the first breath of spring«.
Sarah Davachi
The Head As Form’d In The Crier’s Choir
Late Music