Htennek Niwhsa is the project by Ashwin + Ken of PANTōNE VU which is dedicated to the work of a “little-known composer they discovered fortuitously when cleaning out the basement of an apartment they rented at Dundas and Bathurst in Toronto.”
The story itself is a fascinating one, that I won’t try to retell any better than they could:
Amongst Htennek’s belongings they found a folio of hand transcribed piano music. Ashwin+ Ken immediately fell in love with the tender songs and set out to find out as much as they could about this mysterious composer. Sadly, their sleuthing led to several dead ends and they were left with only an assortment of Htennek’s possessions—a badge and ID from Htennek’s work as a high school caretaker, postcards, polaroids, VHS tapes, a few bowties and a collection of Htennek’s compositions. Armed with two ribbon microphones and a felted upright piano they started to record—preserving Htennek’s work for posterity and with each recording getting closer to knowing the man they know very little about. piano piano is an initial collection of six songs from the uncovered manuscripts.”We loved this title. Imagining a world in which everyone was slow to offer soundbite answers or
“From Offering No Answers” is one of these pieces, a track that packs a whole devestating feeling of emotions and cinematic scope in the fashion of Sigur Ros or Brian Eno, but very much in a world of its own.
Enjoy a listen to the track now below.
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