Gondwana Records

Hania Rani - Esja

£27.99

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Esja is Hania Rani's 2019 debut solo album, released on Gondwana Records — a spare, entrancing record built from just piano and space. Named after a mountain outside Reykjavik whose face changes with the light and weather, the album has that same quality: patient, unshowy compositions that seem to reveal something different each time you return to them.

It won Hania Rani four Fryderyk Awards in her native Poland, including Best Debut Album, and marked her out as one of the most distinctive new voices in contemporary piano music. For fans of Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds and Max Richter, Esja rewards close listening without ever demanding it — ideal for a quiet morning or late at night with the lights down.

Tracklist

Eden
Sun
Hawaii Oslo
Pour Trois
Biesy
Luka
Glass
Today It Came
Esja
Now, Run

Details

Release Date: 5th April 2019

Why We Love It

Esja is Hania Rani stripped right back to just her and a piano, and it's remarkable how much emotional range she finds in that simplicity. Named after a mountain outside Reykjavik that looks different every time you see it, the record has that same quality — spare, unshowy compositions that somehow feel different on every listen. It won her Poland's top new artist award and announced a genuinely distinctive voice in contemporary piano music, closer in spirit to a diary entry than a technical showcase. Delicate, patient and completely absorbing.

Sam's Note

Perfect for a quiet moment with a coffee. It rewards close attention but never demands it.

Sounds Like

• Nils Frahm
• Olafur Arnalds
• Max Richter
• Jon Hopkins

Mood

• Delicate
• Intimate
• Contemplative
• Transportive

Perfect For

• Sunday mornings
• Reading
• Quiet moments alone

12 Bar Listening Guide

First Listen

Reveals More

Atmosphere

Originality

Why This Album Matters

Released in April 2019 on Gondwana Records, Esja was Hania Rani's debut album and a purely solo-piano statement, named after a mountain in south-west Iceland whose appearance shifts constantly with the light and weather. It earned her four Fryderyk Awards, including Best Debut Album, in her native Poland, and helped establish Gondwana as a home for intimate, piano-led contemporary composition alongside its jazz and electronic-leaning artists.

Hania Rani is a Polish pianist and composer trained in classical piano and sound engineering, whose music sits at the intersection of neo-classical composition, ambient electronics and pop sensibility. Since Esja she's collaborated widely across Gondwana's roster and beyond, building a reputation as one of the most distinctive voices in the current wave of contemporary piano-led music coming out of Europe.

Spare, unshowy compositions that somehow feel different on every listen.

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