Afterpoem

AlbumFeb 24 / 202313 songs, 34m 16s
Progressive Electronic Ambient
Highly Rated

PRE-ORDER out 2/24/2023 Faten Kanaan's fifth LP Afterpoem is a mysterious, smudgy, bittersweet, and uniquely playful album. Deeply melodic, it continues her poignant exploration of counterpoint as a narrative tool. From the repetitive structures of modern minimalism and early music/baroque influences - to more languid textural ebbs & tides, there's a warmth in her use of electronic instruments that gives the album a curiously timeless feel. Composing intuitively, her music has often been described as 'strange', mostly because it creates its own world- one that isn't easily categorised. The album's title refers to the haze of a poem's intended meaning being abstractly fleeting and barely graspable. Glistening threads of understanding still touch us - the poetry becoming intimately personal, and no further literal explanation is needed. "I find pleasure in music as a language that nudges and hints. There's a potential that lives in things left unsaid... meanings drifting in and out of focus... hovering like spirits. It's a romantic and earnest album... of yearning for lost places and people, while still looking out at the world with tenderness and humour".

At the start of Afterpoem, the fifth album from New York minimalist composer Faten Kanaan, the listener is immediately dropped into a disorienting synth loop that resembles a curious rain cloud, washing down a dark street before moving on out of sight.

7 / 10

Faten Kanaan's musical molting feels more organic than the repetition in Reich or Glass; her music doesn't rely on an unwavering framework for effect.

70 %

Album Reviews: Faten Kanaan - Afterpoem

8 / 10