Establishing the mood with reverberating piano chords and a serene yet melancholic string arrangement, Hanan Townshend opens What We Lost II with cinematic allure and instrumental mastery. The opus expands with piano arpeggios as the emotional quotient of the composition builds with dimensionality.
We are captivated by the timelessness and the overarching sentiment of the composition. The flourishes are refined, whilst the repeated notions manifest with a hypnotic energy. There is no doubt that What We Lost II would be perfect for the score of a Sofia Coppola, Darren Aronofsky, or Luca Guadagnino production, or a pivotal scene in a Pedro Almodóvar movie.
We are moved to tears by the spiritual depth that comes to life as the composition increases in tempo, truly tapping into our heart centre. The build is magnetic before a reprise of the introduction as a finale for the song, a full circle moment, leaving us yearning for more.
There is an ancient aura that comes to life with the composition and this makes sense as Hanan Townshend confesses, “What We Lost is a collection of fragmented ideas that I heard but struggled to articulate. From this place, a question emerged: If music played when loss first entered the world, what would it have sounded like?“
Hanan elaborates, “From this question, I experienced both a sense of direction and helplessness, seemingly conflicting, but it led to the realization that I didn’t really know how to grieve. I didn’t even know how to name grief when I felt it. In approaching this question, I waded through unfamiliar territory and determined to push past habits of distracting myself out of these feelings.”
The visionary composer explains that, unlike his film music which follows someone else’s story, this explores grief and memory through simple, restrained piano pieces designed to be intimate and accessible. It was recorded at home on his child’s upright piano.
Needless to say, we are in awe, and have added What We Lost II to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and our TIMELESS playlist, whilst we continue to stream the exquisite wider discography of Hanan Townshend, including Kisses, and Mystics.