THE WORLD'S BEST NEW MUSIC
ALBUM OF THE DAY
16 FEBRUARY 2026
Sentimental Value
HANIA RANI
Released 30 January 2026
Gondwana Records
****-
A quiet but immersive modern-classical score that frames a story oscillates around three characters and the motionless presence of the house, with crystalline piano lines and field-recorded atmospheres.
Hania Rani has emerged over the last decade as one of contemporary music’s most intriguing hybrid voices, part pianist, part composer, part sonic explorer. Trained in the classical tradition in Warsaw and Berlin, she turned away from orthodox performance to champion composition that blurs genre boundaries. Her albums Esja (2019) and the more vocal-inflected Ghosts (2023) showcase her ability to balance minimalism with emotion; Non Fiction (2025), a piano concerto recorded with a full ensemble, further expanded her range and reputation. Rani’s work is increasingly sought after in film contexts thanks to its capacity to articulate unseen emotional states, allowing her to work forxhamsterlive outdoor
concert hall and cinema alike.
That Sentimental Value was conceived as a score for Joachim Trier’s critically acclaimed drama of the same name, rather than as an album or concert piece, shapes both its strengths and limitations. Additionally, the music was written before a single frame was edited, based instead on script and deep conceptual dialogue between Rani and the director.
The story told in the film oscillates around three characters and the motionless presence of the house, yet the relationships between all these personalities are not fixed, but in progress.
Recorded between Abbey Road, London and the Polish Radio studios, the album's ten pieces resist dramatic swells and underscore the film's quiet psychological terrain: shifting relationships, the opacity of memory and the weight of place. Piano figures recur with delicate precision, complemented by eerie string and woodwind textures that drift hauntingly and unsentimentally. Field recordings and subtle ambient colourations, capturing the sounds of objects and furniture found in the film's apartment building, contribute to the music's representation of physical space.
Although compact (at 38 minutes in duration) and narrow in musical range, the emotional depth and cinematic sweep will reward attentive listening, even as a stand-alone piece.
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