Sidequest by Faten Kanaan
Faten Kanaan releases the hypnotic ‘Sidequest’ on Fire Records on 25th March.
The composer creates an alchemy of past and future in a metallically-minimalist opus. Having previously been compared to Eleni Karaindrou and Philip Glass, the mystery of Faten Kanaan continues. Her music creates its own world - one that isn’t easily categorised.
Mastered by Heba Kadry, ‘Sidequest’ follows suit; it’s a multi-layered epic that embraces her Arab roots, adding luscious swathes of strings with an atmospheric grandeur that overflows into itself creating a Terry Riley-like mantra for modern times.
Faten: "It's rare for me to work with beats, but I wanted to make a (semi) dance-able track that felt like triumphantly-clanking armour... Inspired by the 12th century, and Adamski x Seal's track 'Killer'. A literal sidequest- it's a one-off track that's unrelated to any future releases."
Her previous two albums on Fire, ‘A Mythology Of Circles’ (2020) and ‘Afterpoem (2023) received many plaudits:
“The music has a real intimacy and warmth.” The Quietus
“Irresistibly otherworldly.” Uncut
“Thrilling and wholly original.” AllMusic
Faten Kanaan’s new single ‘Sidequest’ suggests that the journey is far from over.
Faten layers cyclical patterns in her music, composing intuitively and using
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 synthesizers that gives her work a curiously timeless feel.