Review Summary: rapture obscured by clouds
Considering the general tedium of your average run-of-the-mill ambient and adjacent record, it is ever pleasant to encounter an effort still at least mildly interested in pushing boundaries, fusing styles and compositional techniques, redefining what it is to be a m b i e n t, or simply playing around with tricks and cogs of their musical machines. Hania Rani certainly enjoys pulling the pallid chameleon, ever shifting colours and switching gears. Her reluctance to fully commit to a style or shape has so far served her well, having authored both sparse ambient-front wind breeze records like
Home and patient deliberating un-pop efforts like
Esja. At her disposal are primarily her keys and synths, brothered with an exhaustive list of production trickery. From what the promotional material has indicated, such is the case for
Ghosts, bar the few explicit artist features. Heavyweights of chamber and fever-dream pop like Patrick Watson or Olafur Arnalds make their appearance, as well as Portico Quartet’s Duncan Bellamy. Most of the album’s palette is comprised of just that, simple keys tuned hither and thither to distantly emulate a variety of instruments, from strings to brass.
If atmosphere alone could carry albums, I would have been a mighty wanderer. Hania is a sailor of such waters, a seasoned captain even. If nothing else,
Ghosts reaffirms her push towards purely atmospheric over generally emotional. Not that emotion is disembodied from the record, but rather its input is circumstantial. The album is often running on thin steam of technique, rather than song-writing. Albeit the grand singles like “Hello” or the Patrick Watson-endorsed “Dancing with Ghosts” are a proof to the otherwise. Hania’s overwhelming infatuation with all things meandering and distancing takes over her judgement over the flow and the pace. The album therefore suffers from unnecessarily long runtime, with songs often serving to lead into other songs, which in turn lead into other songs, none having a statement of their own to contribute.
The three aforementioned features are mostly surface-level. Only Patrick Watson intently stands out, as his unmistakable breathy falsetto hovers over “Dancing with Ghosts” like a spectre. However, the ambient wizard Olafur Arnalds’ input is darn near invisible. The piano-led meditation on “Whispering House” shows no sign of significance in contrast to the rest of the album’s already subtle, wavering vibe. Meanwhile, Portico Quartet’s Duncan Bellamy contributes scant percussion to “Thin Line”, unfortunately buried by the dreamy production. His presence is again mainly serving a name, rather than substance. Such are the disappointments of
Ghosts. Although all somewhat intentional. The album shines the best where Hania herself takes the centre stage and asserts her presence. The aforementioned infectious ballad “Hello” is about as beautiful an ambient pop lead-in, as one could hope for. “Don’t Break My Heart”, also featuring Duncan Bellamy
s o m e w h e r e, is a beautifully haunting pop track. The long-winded frosty “Komeda” is also a testament to patience and ambient perseverance. And finally the penultimate “Utrata” sees Rani engage in engrossing progression at its possibly most physically subtle extents.
Hania most definitely engages in all her ambitions to be the mother regent of caressing subtlety and fluffy nocturnalism. Despite that, and despite the relative star-power of her features, the album seems to have issues of decision-making. It is hellbent on its atmosphere and direction it is taking, as all tracks largely follow a similar sound and atmospheric scheme, but its extraneous effort (the features most notably) come off as afterthoughts, slapped on to an already existing and functioning frame. Its tedious runtime also shows more ambition than care, as at least 10-20 minutes could have been easily relegated to a deluxe extended reissue or B-sides EP. But for what it is worth, Hania’s ambition also shows her growth. For once, ambient pop is a thing worth looking out for even for the uninvolved. It is a force of its subtle own and Hania is more than happy to be at its forefront. And honestly, more power to her.
