) this morning and I think it's time we tried to get a thread going on her before they all sell out (300 total with an A5 Cyanotype print unique to each copy). There's been a buzz building around her for a while and her record has not disappointed.Listening I can imagine fragrant recitals in futurist drawing rooms. Her music evoking a stately minimal wave that's almost got an Emerald Web style classical twist to it (classical futurism?) and her voice has that hymnal head girl thing going that cordons of the rawk and hooks me deeply. I've seen her compared to Broadcast which is slightly awry but I think Broadcast fans might like her.
Only two tracks to check out until Juno get their copy and put up store samples.
Faten Kanaan - Viriditas
Faten Kanaan - Spy Films
She also got an excellent EP/tape and the odd stray track on her bandcamp
Some blurb to fill out the picture;
Next up on Polytechnic Youth is the beautiful debut full length from Brooklyn-based Faten Kanaan.
Following a hugely acclaimed cassette release (“EP”), Faten’s music was pointed the direction of PY by Listening Center’s David Mason (a PY label mate, who also mixed this record) and like many people, we loved it instantly.
Faten uses vintage synthesizers to slowly build songs inspired by cinematic forms: from sweeping landscapes and quiet love stories, to the patterned tension of 1970s horror film soundtracks. Focusing on bringing a human touch to electronic music that highlights the relationship between man, nature, and machine: the drifting of time, the dystopic grittiness, and the bittersweet (but hopeful) sense of nostalgia.
Here is what others have said about Faten’s music:
‘Noisey’ (Vice), written by Zachary Lipez
It's a subtle sound that could easily fade into the background in less capable hands, but Kanaan is working ably within a tradition that encompasses both early synth visionaries and Stereolab or Broadcast, so the hits, as it were, keep coming.
“When I was a teen I didn't know what sequencers and arpeggiators were, so I thought industrial/no wave music synth parts were all played manually,” she says. “I liked that music and taught myself to play like that, relying on classical techniques. I don't use any sequencers nor arpeggiators, I play all the parts by hand and loop them live”.
‘The Active Listener‘, written by Nathan Ford
It's refreshing to hear a female voice in a genre almost exclusively populated by men since the loss of Trish Keenan and with Faten Kanaan we may have found a worthy successor. Like the best Broadcast works, the pieces found here are much more than the mood-pieces proffered by most Hauntologists. Kanaan understands that the medium is a suitable springboard for much more than moodsetting and Radiophonic nostalgia, although both of those boxes are ticked here too.
All in all, “The Botanist & The Archaeologist” fits the proverbial “stunning debut album” billing. A beautiful record, containing an evolving array of styles and textures. It is equally pleasing on the eye, gorgeous sleeve art with a -unique to each copy- hand crafted (by Faten herself) Cyanotype print. Lovely stuff in special packaging….
Available 1st week of September.
D
*Dom also runs The Great Pop Supplement and Deep Distance labels,
Has anyone seen my breeches and stockings?
Listening in battered work t-shirt and trackies, but the effect is not lost on me. Lovely stuff. 
