Stream: Kan Wakan, ‘Shining Bright Truth’ (feat. Rachel Fannan)

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Kan Wakan (Photo by Mihail Novakov)

When is that elusive, long-sought beacon really a rabbit hole? And what happens when you realize you’ve been fooled?

Composer-producer Gueorgui Linev — dba Kan Wakan — soundtracks a tenuous relationship with reality on his new single “Shining Bright Truth,” the follow-up to last spring’s “Oh Mother” and the latest taste of “Phantasmagoria Vol. 2,” the second in his album trilogy.

With slippery strings, a steady beat and a typically sparse arrangement, Kan Wakan’s latest marriage of orchestral and electronic is as riveting as anything he’s done. Guest singer Rachel Fannan (who besides her solo work, has lent her voice to Moon Honey, Black Mountain, UNKLE, Guy Blakeslee, Wall of Death, Sleepy Sun and more) is so smoky and mesmerizing you hold your breath. It’s not the first time the composer and singer have collaborated (“I Had to Laugh,” “Tuesday”) and hopefully not the last.

Linev calls the song “a note to self about acknowledging the occasional tendency to be insincere with oneself and wander down a delusional, parallel reality. Whether it’s through the lens of social media or another vessel, it’s about that moment of acceptance. Things get precarious when you sense it’s time to bow out and you begin bartering with yourself, but it feels safer to stay the course.”

“Phantasmagoria Vol. 2,” originally intended to be part of a triple-LP and reshaped/rethought as a separate release, is anticipated later this year. The first volume came out in 2018.

||| Stream: “Shining Bright Truth”

||| Previously: “Oh Mother,” Kan Wakan: An interview, “Phantasmagoria Pt. 1,” “I Would,” “Molasses”