Altin Gün
Gece

THE REVIEW

Turkish things! Exoticism as a subtext of the neo-psychedelic movement. There's Amsterdam in this ensemble. Along the canals of Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht. A Turkish singer and a Turkish female singer. Vintage instrumentation, folklore, and a synthetic language. Blue sounds, nocturnal to fill torrid spaces, mountain ranges, bulbous crocuses, and the scent of wormwood. A naked, magnetic, pre-human album. Hidden and almost anonymous. Ingenious dance hall musicians (former associates of Jacco Gardner). Vocal waverings. Chirpings. They sing of Anatolia, the sinuous night, the opposite of solemnity. A turquoise night, not the unsatisfactory "where all cows are black." A zone of light where all metropolitan tributaries meet. In a world reduced to the essentials, in its stark novelty. Global psych rock and Turkish folk. Retro melodies, eager funky grooves, gurgling analog keyboards, electric saz, fuzzy guitars, a round bass. They sound intent on folk. Direct and courteous. A caressing voice (Merve Daşdemir, a true maenad), a hypnotic voice (Erdinç Ecevit). Five baffled, heated musicians at the service of bassist Jasper Verhulst. They betray a happiness, neither narcissistic nor fetishistic, that is only the evidence of being. “Gece” translates to "night" and “golden day” is the literal translation of Altın Gün. A warm glow snakes from Derdimi Dökersem and Leyla ("Leyla take care of your eyes / I will burn for you / Like Keren, is in trouble for this") to Süpürgesi Yoncadan and Yolcu. Covers never calligraphic - always new arrangements - of Turkish folk, Turkish psych funk and 70s Anatolian pop (that is, Neşet Ertaş, Barış Manço, Bedia Akartürk, Erkin Koray, the Moğollar). Only one original track (Şoför Bey, a spoken word). For a fusion music: psychedelia, folk pop, synth pop, funky, and indie rock. All with heroic intercultural tonality and fervor! An old Turkish proverb says: "Among beautiful things, three are the most beautiful: sound of water, sound of a woman, and sound of money." But, at least for now, I prefer the "night" of a "golden day" to coins.