Altin Gun: Yol (gold) LP

Altin Gün deliver their third album Yol, the full-length follow-up to the band's 2019 LP Gece, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album. Fronted by vocalists Merve Dasdemir and Erdinç Ecevit, Altin Gün have won worldwide acclaim for their re-imaginings of traditional Turkish folk songs through the lens of pop and psych-rock. 2020's coronavirus quarantine forced the band to write music in a completely new way, trading demos and ideas over email, and the resulting songs mark a new direction for the band as well, with a shift to a sleeker, synth-driven Europop sound. Yol displays a noticeable dreaminess, maybe born from this enforced time to reflect. And select elements of late 1970s or early 1980s "Euro" synth pop also shine through. This new musical landscape was nurtured by certain instrument choices; namely the Omnichord, heard on "Arda Boylari," "Kara Toprak" and "Sevda Olmasaydi," and the drum-machine, an instrument that is key to the gorgeous closing number, "Esmerim Güzelim."