Karen Salicath Jamali doesn’t approach music like a performer. She approaches it like a messenger. With “Angel Haniel’s Clearing,” the Danish-born, NYC-based artist continues her unlikely musical path—one that didn’t begin in a conservatory or through lessons, but in the aftermath of trauma.
Before 2012, Salicath didn’t play piano. She was already an accomplished visual artist, but music wasn’t in her toolkit—until a near-death experience rewired everything. After a fall and a prolonged recovery, she began hearing music in her sleep. Not vague melodies, but full pieces. Complete, detailed, emotional works that demanded to be played the moment she woke.
She describes this new piece as “received” rather than composed. In her dreams, tones take form as landscapes; harmonies arrive like weather systems. Behind it all, she senses the presence of angels.
“Angel Haniel’s Clearing” is a piano piece guided by the energy of Archangel Haniel—a figure known for bringing emotional clarity. The music reflects that mission. No complex runs, no baroque density—just open intervals and high tones that land like deep breaths. It’s meditative without being mechanical, calm without collapsing into stillness.
It’s tempting to file Salicath’s work under new age, but the label doesn’t hold. There’s no ambient fluff here, no overproduction. She doesn’t aim to soothe; she aims to reveal. The piano becomes a vessel for something else—less performance, more transmission.
With this release, Karen Salicath reasserts her unique position in the contemporary classical landscape: a self-taught outsider making music that speaks with eerie precision. And if her compositions sound like prayers, it’s because they are.