Aşk

Album review

Initially formed as a tribute to the glorious era of '70s Turkish psychedelic music, this hyper-focused, Amsterdam-based sextet of Dutch, Turkish and Indonesian players have created an evolving new musical fusion over three albums. Grounded in honoring the past, Altin Gün also worship finding a potent groove and showcasing the accomplished, impassioned vocals of Turkish nationals Erdinç Ecevit Yıldız and Merve Daşdemir. Nominated for a Grammy in 2019 for their second album Gece, they continue to sharpen and enrich their musical fusion. While cross-cultural music hybrids are all the rage, most promise more than they can deliver, becoming either too westernized or too academic. Altin Gün's amalgam is a smooth mix of sinuous melodies that give the music a certain historical feel, enhanced by flashes of Eurodisco, as in "Doktor Civanım," and a growing love for western funk which shows itself most prominently here in the bouncy "Çıt Çıt Çedene" and the opening low funk bass line and wah-wah scratchy guitar of "Rakıya Su Katamam." The synths that were so prominent on previous releases have been turned down this time out. Early in their career, the group realized that dance music is a universally beloved musical language. Consequently, much of Aşk (which means love in Turkish) makes you sway instinctively even though the language keeps the lyrics a mystery to most. Their embrace of the freedom and experimentalism inherent in Turkish psychedelic music has been updated with dollops of western jam bandisms and the accompanying willingness to repeat what works and move on from what doesn't. Happily, they've paired this with a wise policy of keeping their album tracks short and uptempo—none of the tracks on Aşk exceed five minutes—despite the group's growing reputation for the swirling, infectious, jammy events that their live concerts inevitably become. Aşk also shows much-needed new sides to the group's music, slowing things down with a measured beat on "Kalk Gidelim," and easing into the soaring ballad "Güzelligin On Para Etmez" where Yildiz's voice eloquently undulates. Rhythmically vital and experimentally fruitful, Altin Gün continue to create and amaze. © Robert Baird/Qobuz