Hania Rani makes beautiful music that’s haunted, yet enchanted. The Polish pianist and composer blurs the lines of ambient, classical and house — submerged beats pulse under ripples of piano, synths and her delicate voice. She regularly performs in concert halls across Europe, but during an American tour she brought the cinematic, yet intimate songs of her album Ghosts to the Tiny Desk.

Rani is conservatory trained, but like so many post-classical artists working right now, brings her own influences to centuries-old tradition. The way her fingers chromatically surge in a cascade of color suggest the later compositions of Mozart — somehow lush and sublime in their tension, on the brink of something different. But there’s also a restlessness in how Rani, accompanied by Ziemowit Klimek on upright bass and synth, bounces between the piano and synths with ease and often within the same song. She is a wonder to watch.

— Lars Gotrich | January 29, 2024

SET LIST
“Thin Line”
“Moans (Instrumental)”
“Don’t Break My Heart”

MUSICIANS
Hania Rani: upright piano, synth, vocals
Ziemowit Klimek: bass, synth

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Lars Gotrich
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Josh Rogosin
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Elizabeth Gillis
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Maia Stern, Hazel Cills
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

#tinydesk #nprmusic #haniarani