Since the 1960s, Turkish groups have honed a distinct blend of Anatolian folk and psychedelia. Early pioneers Moğollar and Erkin Koray electrified the lute-like saz, while newer acts such as Baba Zula and Altın Gün have added synths, dub echo and heavy fuzz to the mix. German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım has meanwhile taken a downtempo approach since her 2019 debut album Kar Yağar, singing soaring vocals over hazy reverb to produce soulful saz-funk.
Yıldırım’s third album with her band Grup Şimşek is their first working with analogue soul producer Leon Michels (who produced pop singer Clairo’s acclaimed latest) and the resulting 11 tracks luxuriate in warm acoustics, tape hiss and earthy basslines. Opener Çiçek Açıyor sets the tone with Yıldırım’s powerful falsetto ascending beautifully over a driving, mid-tempo groove of fuzzing bass and softly piping Mellotron keys, while Cool Hand and Direne Direne pick up the pace, highlighting the tight interplay between drummer Helen Wells and bassist Graham Mushnik, who evoke classic 60s soul rhythm sections such as the Funk Brothers as they anchor Yıldırım’s high-register melodies.
The rich, oaken tone of Michels’ production creates consistency, but when the group break with their constraints on three standards, the record reaches unexpected territory. The lilting nursery rhyme feel of Hop Bico is given a woozy, psychedelic makeover courtesy of siren-like synths and a wailing guitar solo from Antonin Voyant, while Misket highlights Yıldırım’s emotive balladry in an a capella opening before landing on a hypnotic melody doubled by the synth and saz. Finally, a version of saz master Neşet Ertaş’s 60s single Ceylan is a highlight, subduing the original’s raucous fast-picking into an offbeat reggae mood. It’s a transformation that shows just how imaginatively Yıldırım and Grup Şimşek can evolve the Turkish psych sound.
Listen to tracks from Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek: Yarın Yoksa on Apple Music
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Also out this month
The last instalment of composer and sitarist Anoushka Shankar’s instrumental trilogy, Chapter III: We Return to Light (Leiter), is beautifully lyrical, interweaving sitar with Alam Khan’s sarod to produce the enveloping melodies of tracks like Daybreak and Hiraeth. Seven-piece Ugandan gospel choir Kingdom Molongi release a startlingly original debut, Kembo (Nyege Nyege), with Portuguese producer Jonathan Uliel Saldanha. Chopping multilingual vocal lines with thundering bass and synth buzz, the group veer from yearning ululations on Emanuel to eerie dancefloor spirituality on the rhythmic Tokumisa Nzambe. Also channelling the power of the voice, nephews of Sufi master Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan lead the Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali group on At the Feet of the Beloved (Real World). Soaring up through a selection of Urdu ghazals and Punjabi folk songs, the record peaks on the ecstatic, spiralling pulse of Ja Mur Ja.
