Hania Rani announces her new album ‘Ghosts’

We are super proud to announce ‘Ghosts’, showcasing the sound of an ever-evolving artist who passes repeatedly and gracefully between musical worlds: as composer, singer, songwriter, and producer. This album builds on Rani’s earlier successes ‘Esja’ and ‘Home’ with an expanded yet still minimal setup of piano, keyboards, synths and foregrounds her mysterious, bewitching voice. Ghosts is also an album of collaborations as Rani is joined by Patrick Watson, who breathes unearthly life into the ethereal ‘Dancing with Ghosts’. ‘Whispering House’ written and recorded with her friend Ólafur Arnalds, casts a peaceful, ineluctable spell; and Portico Quartet’s Duncan Bellamy contributes vital loops to ‘Don’t Break My Heart’ and ‘Thin Line’.

Rani’s lyrics are partially inspired by a two-month residency in a small studio in Switzerland’s mountains, where Rani was working on her soundtrack ‘On Giacometti’ (GONDLP059). She was inspired by the stories and history of the place: in particular, the local belief that ghosts still live there.

“With ‘Ghosts’ I wanted to start something from scratch, picking tools and stories I was not familiar with, but which felt dear to me. ‘Ghosts’ is a story about life and death, light and darkness, real and unreal. It’s an attempt to touch ultimate qualities and craft my own mythologies; to face fears, take a deep dive into things that scare me but also seduce me subconsciously. ‘Ghosts’ collects all of these things together, mixing the past, present and the future into a new sound of mine.”

— Hania Rani

• photograph by Rein Kooyman