Derya Yıldırım and Grup Şimşek – ‘Yarın Yoksa’ album review: effortlessly cool Anatolian folk psychedelia
THE SKINNY: Folk music, despite its popular portrayal here in the United Kingdom, incorporates so much more than a few boring old men strumming acoustic guitars. Turkey, for instance, boasts an incredibly rich and diverse history of Anatolian folk music, which has captivated listeners for centuries. One of the greatest aspects of the Anatolian folk sound is its adaptability, which became particularly evident back in the 1960s when artists began to combine it with the emerging sounds of psychedelic rock. Now, decades later, artists are still finding ways to reinvent Anatolian folk psychedelia, but few have been quite as compelling as Derya Yıldırım and Grup Şimşek.
Based in Berlin but expressing a sound and message which completely transcends national borders and genre conventions, Derya Yıldırım and Grup Şimşek have been working together for over a decade at this point. Their newly unveiled record, Yarın Yoksa, is an absolute masterclass in constructing mind-expanding tracks with a timeless appeal. From the immediate opening of the album, the band espouse their cinematic quality, creating lush soundscapes that hark back to the golden age of Anatolian psychedelia while simultaneously pushing the style into bold new avenues of expression.
With a title translating to If There Is No Tomorrow, the album features a consistent theme of resistance. Throughout the more intimate, vocal-focused moments of the record, Yıldırım sings about struggles, both personal and collective, with effortless grace and deep emotional weight. This culminates in an unavoidable affecting listening experience, capable of stirring strong emotions in the hearts and souls of the listener.
Alongside that vulnerability and emotion, Grup Şimşek expertly craft a range of different sounds and atmospheres which perfectly complement the ethereal tones of Yıldırım. It would be easy to compare their inherent sound to works by Barış Manço or Sevil and Ayla, but that would undermine the pioneering modernity of their output.
Grup Şimşek do not rely on retro-ism or nostalgia; their sound is constantly moving forward and looking for new ways to expand and adapt. Over the course of this album alone, they touch upon everything from progressive rock to Caribbean rhythms, with each new sound perfectly adapted into the musical manifesto at the heart of the outfit.
For fans of: Endlessly digging through crates of vinyl and spending your evenings watching old spy films from the 1960s.
A concluding comment from Ben’s girlfriend: “I’m counting down the days until it gets warm again so I can sit outside with a cigarette and a glass of wine while listening to this record on a beautiful summer evening.”
Yarın Yoksa track by track:
Release date: March 14th | Producer: Leon Michels | Label: Big Crown Records
‘Çiçek Açıyor’: A lush, cinematic opening into this expansive album. Awash with all the charm and cool of Anatolian folk, the ethereal vocals of Yıldırım are both captivating and emotionally charged, acting as a sign of things to come on the rest of the record. [4/5]
‘Cool Hand’: Opening with the unmistakable sounds of an electronic organ, ‘Cool Hand’ is largely built around a bağlama riff, which has been a key part of Turkish and Ashik music for centuries. Despite its rich cultural heritage, the band manage to update these sounds for modern audiences, creating something that transcends borders and generations. [5/5]
‘Yakamoz’: Another effortlessly cool offering that manages to blend intense emotional songwriting with an endlessly infectious groove. Sonically, it exists somewhere between an old-school James Bond theme and modern folk psychedelia. [4.5/5]
‘Hop Bico’: Changing the pace of the tracklisting dramatically, Grup Şimşek launch into an upbeat odyssey of electronica. The song’s opening borders of prog rock at points – adding another string to the endlessly diverse bow of the outfit – before delving into an expansive and euphoric soundscape. [4/5]
‘Bilemedim Ki’: With a title translating to ‘I Didn’t Know’, the band revert back to a rich cinematic sound, with the focus placed almost entirely on vocals. It is efforts like this which particularly demonstrate the deep emotional message at the heart of this record, along with the undeniable quality of Yıldırım as a performer. [5/5]
‘Yüz Yüze’: As we reach the halfway point of the album, Grup Şimşek immerse the listener in this endearingly psychedelic interlude, which highlights the mind-expanding nature of the band’s output both on this recording and elsewhere. [4/5]
‘İstanbul’un Kuşları’: Picking up the pace somewhat, the group treat audiences to a song awash with a sense of freedom and spontaneity, befitting of its title, which translates to ‘Birds of Istanbul’. [4.5/5]
‘Direne Direne’: An enchanting, rhythmic offering which plays perfectly into the strengths of both Grup Şimşek and Yıldırım. The diverse instrumentation, prog-esque keys, and driving vocal performance create something that is prolific and sun-soaked. [4.5/5]
‘Ceylan’: Even as we enter the latter stages of this album, the band continuously attempt to expand their sonic repertoire, this particular track drawing upon everything from Caribbean rocksteady to prime hippie-age psychedelia. They certainly know how to keep an audience engaged. [4/5]
‘Misket’: Typically upbeat psychedelic bursts from the band are interspersed with moments of intimate vulnerability from the vocalist, capturing the contrasting moods that have permeated throughout the entirety of the tracklisting thus far. [4/5]
‘Güneş’: Closing out the album, the group demonstrate their unwavering ability to craft extensive border-defying cinematic soundscapes while retaining the universal appeal and quality of their instrumentation and vocal performances. Truly a masterclass in modern pop-folk, regardless of its nationality or cultural origins. [5/5]
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