Review | “After Poem” by Faten Kanaan
Time-traveling reverberations offer aesthetic ambiguity and emotional mystery
With her fifth album, "Afterpoem," Faten Kanaan beckons listeners into a realm where the boundary between the tangible and the ethereal blurs, where the essence of sound transcends mere auditory sensation to evoke a complex system of emotions and impressions.
In the artist's own words, the title refers to the "haze of a poem's intended meaning being abstractly fleeting and barely graspable", stating the album's thematic undercurrent as the ephemeral nature of interpretations and the elusive spirit of elucidation that dances just beyond our grasp.
Drawing from her multifaceted heritage, spanning Syria, Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon, and nurtured in the cultural crossroads of Europe and the Middle East, the Brooklyn-based artist regales us with a sonic narrative that is as rich in diversity as it is in introspective depth.
Rooted in classical orchestrations yet ingeniously amalgamated with an array of instruments, both traditional and synthetic, Kanaan's compositions traverse the realms of time and history with a deft hand and a light touch.
The album unfurls as a poignant exploration of counterpoint, where melodic motifs intertwine and diverge, evoking a sense of enigmatic allure.
Kanaan's utilization of electronic instruments infuses the compositions with a warmth that belies their synthetic origins, endowing the music with a timeless quality that transcends conventional categorizations.
From the hypnotic repetitions reminiscent of modern minimalism to the evocative echoes of early church music and baroque influences, "Afterpoem" invites listeners on a journey through a landscape where past and present coalesce into a singular, ineffable experience.
In this realm of abstract expression, Kanaan effortlessly navigates the delicate balance between clarity and ambiguity, inviting listeners to lose themselves in the mysteries of her sonic universe.
Indeed, "Afterpoem" emerges as a testament to the transformative power of music as a language of nuance and suggestion, where meanings linger in the spaces between notes and melodies, inviting introspection and interpretation.
With each track, Kanaan crafts a musical landscape that is at once familiar and transcendent, offering a glimpse into a world where the boundaries of time and space dissolve, leaving only a singular vision and artistic sensibility, a testament to the profound impact of music as a vessel for emotional expression and existential inquiry.
Through its melodic tapestry and enigmatic allure, the album beckons listeners to embark on a journey of almost neoclassical austerity, evoking a sense of clean precision and unassuming elegance.
As one is immersed in this aural mise-en-scene, sudden theatrical ruptures catapult listeners into a high-speed orbit, in a relentless pursuit of musical transcendence and suspension of disbelief.
Revealing a spectrum that oscillates between minimalism and maximalism, classical baroque influences, and hypnotically repetitive motifs, the music can be described as 'strange,' since the album embraces its idiosyncrasies with unwavering confidence, reminding us that in the realm of art, strangeness is not only accepted but celebrated.
These hothouse flowers are so otherworldy by their very nature that even the most elaborate artificial cross-breeding hybrids seem mundane by comparison.
Text written by Panagiotis Chatzistefanou, Berlin, April 2024
Sounds wonderful! Thanks for sharing.