Hanry – What Came From Silence
Release Date: 29th May 2026
Label: Pelagic Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Instrumental, Melodical, Post-Rock, Electronic.
FFO: Mogwai, Boards Of Canada, This Will Destroy You, We Lost The Sea, BRUIT ≤.
Review By: John Newlands
What Came From Silence is the debut album from the French instrumental cinematic quintet Hanry.
Before I go any further, I need to confess something. I have absolutely no idea what a “Hanry” is supposed to be. And every single time I see the name on my phone, on my car stereo, wherever, two things immediately pop into my head:
1. Hangry – that cursed state of being both hungry and angry.
2. Henry vacuum cleaners – those red and black cylinder vacuum cleaners made by Numatic International (no I’m not being sponsored) that have the unsettling cartoon eyes and smile on the front.
Ok, so once my mind has pushed beyond an angry cartoon vacuum cleaner hungry to suck the life out of me, what comes into my precious ear holes??
Well I’ll tell you. It’s some of the most beautifully textured, cinematic, atmospheric instrumental music I’ve heard in quite a while. Hanry craft sweeping soundscapes with a confidence and elegance that could genuinely give veterans like Mogwai a run for their money. Their command of dynamics is superb, tension builds and releases with purpose, melodies bloom, and the ebb and flow of the instrumentation feels organic and deeply considered.
It would be easy for someone unfamiliar with this style to dismiss it as background music, or to assume it all blends together. But that’s utter nonsense. The hooks and melodic threads reveal themselves gradually, and by the second or third listen they feel warm, familiar, and comforting. For me its like being enveloped in a hefty bosom of pink and yellow candyfloss (the colours planted in my mind by the album artwork, which I must say, is genuinely lovely and very fitting).
The production plays a huge role in this feeling. What Came From Silence sounds rich and full, with real weight in the low end, yet it also has a clarity and sparkle that lets every instrument breathe. It’s warm without being muddy, detailed without being sterile.
I must admit, I skimmed the press release on this one (or tried to). It was more of an essay than a statement, so I abandoned it almost immediately. But I did catch one detail that piqued my interest, there’s cello on this record. I love me a bit of cello! I hadn’t noticed it at first, but once I knew to listen for it, the added heft and resonance became unmistakable. Along with the piano, synths and three guitars the cello just adds some bottom end “uuf” that makes the music really carry some weight and feel heavier than it is.
This isn’t a traditional “heavy” album, and it’s not trying to be. Nor is it something you throw on before a night out or pumping yer guns in a gym session. It’s music for late evenings when you want to unwind, or for bright summer afternoons spent in a comfortable chair as sunlight filters through leaves and dances across your eyelids. Hanry evoke those kinds of images effortlessly.
I absolutely love this album. It’s astonishingly well‑crafted for a debut. At times, it recalls the drifting ambience of This Will Destroy You’s Tunnel Blanket, the serene passages of The Smashing Pumpkins Porcelina of the Vast Oceans (one of my favourite songs), or even some of Nine Inch Nails’ more atmospheric moments. These are touchpoints to help describe the emotional and sonic terrain conjured by What Came From Silence, not direct influences.
Ultimately, I keep coming back to the same thought “I’m listening to Hanry (the hoover)”, and that alone makes me happy every time I press play.
(5 / 5)
