A cinematic, spiritual, and sensory journey — unfolding across music, live performance, and immersive experience.

At its heart, it is a series of questions:
Do we all long for something more?
What if the silence is not empty?
What if the wilderness is not the end of the story, but the place we are most likely to be found?

The Project

Created by composer Hanan Townshend, Father is a three-phase artistic work exploring themes of absence, searching, and divine presence. It begins as a concept album — composed as a pilgrimage in sound — and expands into a series of cinematic live performances, culminating in a large-scale immersive experience designed for awe-inspiring venues like the Las Vegas Sphere.

The project is rooted in a deep conviction: that beauty, grief, and spiritual hunger belong together — and that audiences are craving more than entertainment.
They’re craving something true.

The Story Behind the Sound

Hanan’s journey with Father began in a season marked by struggle and grief — both personal and collective. After years of composing for directors, brands, and studios around the world, he felt called to create something more vulnerable: music that wasn’t just emotional, but existential.

Inspired by sacred texts, desert landscapes, and a theology of mystery, Father became a way to make sense of what cannot be explained — only felt.
It is not religious in the traditional sense.
It is not confined to any denomination.
But it is spiritual. And it does reach.

The Creative Vision

Father is structured in three movements:

1. The Ache of Absence — a space of longing, grief, and silence

2. The Wilderness Between — a place of wandering, resistance, and slow transformation

3. The Presence That Remains — a movement toward wonder, awe, and encounter

These themes unfold across three creative phases:

• Phase I: The Record — a cinematic concept album co-written with featured vocalists, blending orchestral and ambient textures

• Phase II: The Live Experience — a series of visceral, multi-sensory performance events with live ensemble, narration, and visual storytelling

• Phase III: The Immersive Vision — a full-scale, 360° experience built for the world’s most awe-inspiring spaces

Together, they form a sacred arc — one that is personal, but not private. Abstract, but not inaccessible.

About the Creator

Hanan Townshend is a New Zealand–born composer known for his emotionally charged scores and visually driven storytelling. He has collaborated with acclaimed director Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life, Knight of Cups, To the Wonder), and composed music for Apple, Nike, Google, and numerous independent films and documentaries.

With Father, he steps into a new role — not just as composer, but as curator of a larger vision.

This is the most personal work of his career.
It is also the most collaborative.
A project that invites others to carry the sound forward — through voice, image, and presence.

We live in a world that no longer knows what to do with mystery.
But Father is a reminder that some things are not meant to be solved, they are meant to be witnessed.