7/10

Htennek Niwsha, the enigmatic side project of PANToNE VU’s Ken Harrison and Ashwin Sood, returns with 'A Part', a collection that feels like walking through a dream half-remembered. From the first resonant piano strokes of 'Forest Hymn #13' to the lingering echoes of 'After the Silence', the album unfurls like a series of whispered confessions, intimate and meticulous.

Recorded entirely at the Arvo Pärt Centre in Estonia, 'A Part' merges solo piano with delicate ambient textures, creating a soundscape that is simultaneously fragile and monumental. Each track exists in a suspended state, with melodies that slowly unfurl, decay, and imprint themselves in the listener’s memory. There’s a mathematical beauty to the compositions as it explores the tension between dissonance and resolution to feel purposeful, almost like each note was placed after careful consideration, yet it never loses its human warmth.

Harrison and Sood excel at drawing out emotion without fanfare. 'I’ve Heard the Sand Singing' and' Little Mischief glide' through contemplative spaces, while 'Für Meesha' and 'On the Occasion of Her Return' offer a meditative elegance, echoing the duo’s fascination with time, absence, and the quiet moments in between.

Throughout 'A Part', Htennek Niwsha solidifies their mastery of neoclassical ambient music, transforming minimal piano and cinematic synth into something profoundly moving. It’s a record that thrives on patience and reflection, leaving us with a sense of both impermanence and lingering resonance, an intimate companion for anyone willing to step quietly into its world.