Kan
Wakan arrives with a striking breadth of vision that immediately places them
among modern pop’s most beguiling and inventive new artists. The Los
Angeles-based group’s extraordinary self-titled debut EP introduced their
ornate and enveloping amalgam of psychedelic soul, post rock, electronica, noir
jazz, 60s soundtrack stylings, and orchestral pop, all reshaped and rearranged
to create something both startlingly original and utterly contemporary.
“KAN
WAKAN” – which heralds the band’s full-length debut, entitled “MOVING ON,”
arriving everywhere June 2014 – is highlighted by “Forever Found,” and first single,
“Like I Need You,” which has already been championed by the ever-influential
public radio station, KCRW, as well as by LA Weekly, which recently named Kan
Wakan among the “Los Angeles Bands About To Blow Up.”
Kan
Wakan emerged in early 2012, the musical brainchild of
composer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Gueorgui I. Linev. The Bulgarian-born musician originally set
out to create solely instrumental music inspired by his lifelong passion for
classical minimalism, but the involvement of chanteuse Kristianne Bautista and
producer/guitarist Peter Potyondy rapidly saw the project grow in both scope
and purpose.
“Initially
the project began as an outlet for me to perform some of my bedroom
instrumental ideas with a small chamber ensemble comprised of strings, brass
and percussion” Linev says, “At one point it felt natural to me to introduce
guitars, keyboard and drums into the mix, and around this time is when I met
with Peter and Kristianne. It took a very natural course as we spent the next
year or so experimenting together and more like minded musicians came into the
mix.”
As the
core group built upon a truly variegated palette of influences, common musical
themes began to manifest, including a epic but cinematic deep soul approach
inspired by such icons as Bill Withers and Nina Simone. “Forever Found” – the
band’s first fully fleshed track – proved the aural template from which Kan
Wakan lit out on their exploration of what Linev refers to as “the
juxtaposition of song and symphony.”
At the
forefront is Bautista’s powerful, provocative voice – described by Linev as not
unlike “the lead instrument in an orchestra” – which conveys remarkable levels
of romantic nuance and human complexity to songs like the mysterious “Moving
On.” With a name inspired by the word in Tagalog (Kristianne’s native language)
for interstellar/outer space, “Kalawakan,” the trio was abetted with various
players live, all of whom help bring the bold sonic vision to full fruition.
“Many
roots of ideas are inspired by moving picture and fiction. A lot of arrangement
ideas usually start with a quick sentiment, and develop viscerally undocumented
over some time before I feel comfortable enough writing them down.”
Kan
Wakan’s opening demos earned them well-deserved attention, including
significant airplay on the one and only KCRW. Having made an instantaneous
impact, the band then spent the better part of 2013 recording at studios around
the greater Los Angeles area. Produced by Linev (aka Crooked Waters),
co-produced by Potyondy and multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning producer/engineer
Darrell Thorp (Radiohead, Beck, Air, Gnarls Barkley) and Mixed by GRAMMY®
Award-winning engineer Tom Elmhirst (Adele, Florence and the Machine, The Black
Keys, Arcade Fire, Amy Winehouse) the sessions were adorned with sumptuous
strings performed by the Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra and conducted by
Linev’s beloved uncle, Bulgarian Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra music
director/conductor Stefan Linev.
“We
wanted to put no limits on what we were setting out to do,” Linev says. “We
tried to put as much of ourselves on the record as possible so that we can look
back on it as a real and honest statement of who we were in that moment, both
musically and spiritually.”
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