YOL | ATLIN GUN

2021: Ben Cardew at Pitchfork writes: Altin Gün’s third album arrives with the same mysterious allure as a weirdly shaped parcel found under the Christmas tree. Trapped in lockdown, Amsterdam’s finest Turkish psych revivalists started tinkering with drum machines and electronics, adding the spacey synth strut of early-’80s disco to their hallucinogenic rock/folk stew. The prospect sounds so charmingly idiosyncratic on paper that you almost dread to press play, for fear that reality will disappoint.

Remarkably, not only do the results live up to their billing, they also share errant strands of DNA with some surprising strains of contemporary pop. The moody interlocking synth lines of “Ordunun Dereleri” are only a whisker away from the Weeknd’s recent excursions into ’80s revivalism, and the handclap disco beat and wiggling bassline of “Maçka Yolları” is a wayward cousin to Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia. “Yüce Dağ Başında,” meanwhile, sits somewhere between Lindstrøm’s space disco and Gorillaz’ occasional excursions into reggae.