Htennek Niwhsa (Ambient Side Project of PANTōNE VU) Shares New Single “A Sketch Of A Heart”
February 17, 2023 BY Jason Currell
Today, the masterminds behind the prolific ambient pop outfit PANToNE VU share a new single from their passion side project, Htennek Niwhsa, called “A Sketch Of A Heart.” Ken Harrison and Ashwin Sood bring one of the most enchanting and mysterious music collections you’re bound to encounter this year on their upcoming EP piano piano to be released on March 29th. Featuring today’s single, “A Sketch Of A Heart,” the new EP is a series of missives from the beyond, as Harrison and Sood bring new life to a collection of dark ambient enveloping echos of lost piano compositions from a virtually unknown composer alias, Htennek Niwsha. piano piano began when the duo discovered a lucky chance while cleaning out the basement of an apartment they rented at Dundas and Bathurst in Toronto. They found a folio of hand-transcribed piano music. Ashwin and Ken immediately fell in love with the tender songs and set out to find out as much as they could learn about this mysterious composer.
Listen to “A Sketch Of A Heart” on all digital retailers here:
https://htennekniwhsa.ffm.to/asketchofaheart
Their sleuthings led to several dead ends. 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.
The resulting music drips with loss and longing for a time when, like Chilean Poet Pablo Neruda’s Piedrafina, he “had a fabulous adventure with a beautiful woman…a sketch of a heart, a small crystal box,” shares Harrison and Sood.
ABOUT HTENNEK NIWSHA:
Htennek Niwsha’s piano piano is music that beautifully decays before your very eyes, while retaining a sense of permanence that lingers in your mind long after the record stops. This new project from Ken Harrison and Ashwin Sood, masterminds behind the ambient pop outfit PANToNE VU. Drawing from the lush, warm ambiance of modern composers like Nils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, and Max Richter, Harrison and Sood gives Htennek’s compositions new life through their intuitive approach to simplicity and melodic clarity. piano piano is music that is seemingly placeless in origin but possesses a great emotional heft and will undoubtedly find a place of resonance to curious listeners the world over.
