Released earlier this year through ATO Records, the acclaimed Amsterdam-based Turkish psych pop outfit and JOVM mainstays Altin Gün‘s fourth album Aşk is a return to the 70s Anatolian folk rock sound that characterized their first two groundbreaking albums while capturing the urgency and power of their famously propulsive live show. Recorded using vintage equipment and techniques, the album’s ten songs feature visionary new interpretations and readings of traditional Turkish folk tunes, revealing how these old, beloved songs remain eternally resonant and ripe for constant reinterpretation.
“These songs have been covered so many times, always,” Altin Gün’s Merve Dasdemir says. “But not really in psychedelic pop versions,” Jasper Verhulst adds. “It’s definitely connecting more with a live sound – almost like a live album. We, as a band, just going into a rehearsal space together and creating music together instead of demoing at home.”
Aşk features:
- The band’s dazzling reinvention of “Lelim Ley,” a classic song of lost love and exile, which features lyrics written by the late Turkish novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist Sabahattin Ali (1907–1948), taken from Ali’s 1937 short story “Ses.” Lelim Ley” was joined by music composed by Livaneli and released in 1975. Since then, the song has been lovingly embraced as one of the most well-known and beloved songs among Turkish people across the world.
- “Rakiya Su Katamam” is a kaleidoscopic, space rock/psych rock-like take on the folk standard composed by Turkish writer/theologian Mustafa Öztürk, featuring a relentless motorik groove paired with wah-wah pedaled guitar, Dasdemir’s plaintive yet sultry delivery, and a scorching guitar solo paired with the band’s unerring knack for razor sharp hooks.
- “Su Siziyor,” a lysergic-tinged banger built around a sinuous and propulsive disco-tinged groove, Merve Dasdemir’s plaintive and yearning delivery paired with looping, glistening guitar and the JOVM mainstays unerring knack for crafting ridiculous hooks.
“Doktor Civanim,” Aşk‘s fourth and latest single is a disco-tinged banger, built around glistening synth oscillations that recall Giorgio Moroder‘s legendary 70s output,. relentless four-on-the-floor, a sinuous and ridiculously funky bass line paired with Nile Rodgers-like guitar paired with Merve Dasdemir’s sultry delivery. Simply put it’s breezy and ridiculously fun.
Directed by Ömer Deniz, the accompanying video for “Doktor Civanim” is a gloriously bonkers, sci-fi romp that features a collection of green and white-clad, gold high heel wearing, dancing nurses in a dilapidated hospital, an open heart surgery with a doctor wearing a suit, and plenty of “wait, what did I just see” moments.
“After the sci-fi movie set we all lived through during the pandemic, we wanted to recreate this song as a tribute to all the doctors and healthcare workers,” Altin Gün’s Merve Dasdemir says.
The JOVM mainstay outfit has also announced an extensive run of North American tour dates, which sees the band playing at some of the biggest and most celebrated venues they’ve played to date, including a July 31, 2023 stop at Brooklyn Steel. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.
Tour Dates
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2023
JULY
12 – Pittsburgh, PA – Thunderbird
13 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
14 – Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
15 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
17 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall
18 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theatre
19 – Des Moines, IA – Wooly’s
21 – Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue
24 – Nashville, TN – Basement East
25 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
27 – Floyd, VA – FloydFest *
28 – Washington, DC – The Howard
29 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
31 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
AUGUST
2 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall
3 – Ottawa, ON – The Bronson Center
4 – Montreal, QC – Osheaga Festival *
5 – Boston, MA – Royale
* Festival Appearance
