Music is universal

Turkish psychedelic rock band Altin Gün is back with new studio album Gece just a year after their debut album hit main streaming platforms. With this latest studio album release, the band is playing into new thrills and dancing to fresh takes on psychedelic rock. Altin Gün translates to Gold Day in English, noting that their sound is refinished with nonreplicable beauty.

The album naturally forms in three parts: the first couple tracks fulfill a psychedelic rock appeal, the following few diverge in genre direction and the remaining tell a musical narrative with rhythmic melodies. Intro track “Yolcu” finds its groove between the crevices of contrasting frilly guitar and rugged rock chord ensembles. The following track “Vay Dunya” dances through the listener’s psyche with electronic replicas of the ‘70s Turkish retro-sound. The funk rock backtrack in “Leyla” falls victim to the female vocals, as the track devours itself from treble to bass.

Altin Gün converses strategically with other genres, drawing in folk rock with psychedelic chords and music originating from lands beyond the visible horizon. Inducing a prescribed musical coma, “Anlatmam Derdimi” lures the listener’s naive mind in with a trance-like melody. With a jazz rock beat in full swing, Turkish rap weaves “Sofor Bey” into a must-listen, while tango track “Derdimi Dokersem” overflows with sensuality and irrevocable desire.

“Kolbasti” fixes itself on a quick-tempo rhythmic groove, following one musical tangent with no destination in mind. Electrically transcendent “Ervah-i Ezelde” speaks with amplified presence, as if indefinitely spinning in space on the Voyager Golden Record. Next up “Gesi Baglari” grounds listeners with a repetitive, yet frolicking melody for naïve enjoyment of ballade-rock. Closing track “Süpürgesi Yoncadan” counts down five and a half minutes of cosmic ambiance with a hint of Moroccan-Arabic melodies similar to the band’s most popular track “Goca Dünya” from their 2018 debut album On.

The band sings in Turkish, but the lyrical rhythm and wispy psychedelic background sing with a musical genius that any listener can understand. Lingual mysticism diversifies their instrumental arrangements, transforming their rock rhythms into angular art. Altin Gün is a reminder that music is universal.