Stream: Kan Wakan, ‘Molasses’

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Kan Wakan, aka Gueorgui Linev
Kan Wakan, aka Gueorgui Linev

Since the release two years ago of (Buzz Bands LA’s album of the year) “Moving On,” only the Kan Wakan bio has changed. Once characterized as a “collective,” it is now the “solo project of” Bulgaria-born, L.A.-based composer Gueorgui Linev. Which it was all along, and semantics aside, the point is that Linev is continuing his explorations in melding classical minimalism with forward-thinking, ambient electronica. Kan Wakan today unveiled the new song “Molasses,” a viscous five minutes of new- and old-school orchestration that equals (or betters) the filmic heights of “Moving On.” With a surprise.

The song will appear on Kan Wakan’s forthcoming double LP, “Phantasmagoria,” which unlike the debut album that showcased one singer (Kristianne Bautista), features multiple guest vocalists. Elle Olsun sings on “Molasses,” a song that was inspired by Linev’s visit to his native Sofia, Bulgaria. He wrote the song on his grandmother’s piano shortly after she had been taken to the hospital in a coma. “‘Molasses’ is allowing the weight to fall with a hope, a self-heartened embrace of the burgeoning we see before us,” Linev says. “A clearing and a rising fog, that moment when we take stock of our surroundings and realize we have changed.”

Lavish and atmospheric yet restrained, “Molasses” reveals its skeletal piano line just over a minute in, and then — say what? — surges into a harmonica solo. Which you just don’t hear much in orchestrated music. Here it’s kind of magical.

||| Stream: “Molasses”

||| Previously: Live at the Troubadour, “Are We Saying Goodbye,” “Like I Need You,” “Like I Need You”