Anadol is a psychedelic synth folk project by Gözen Atila, a Turkish sound artist and photographer based in Berlin. Her third album Uzun Havalar is based on collective improvisations of middle eastern folk songs called „uzun hava“. They turn out as rich, atmospheric synth ballads. A diverse roster of improvising musicians creates their fascinating complexity. Anadol recorded them during extensive sessions in Istanbul. You can hear drummers laughing and playing guitars, composers howling, announcements in French and screams in no language, record collectors playing oscillators, and trumpets through spacious echoes.

Anadol represents Gözen Atila’s liberation from a rather academic approach to electronic composition which she pursued during her music technology studies in Istanbul. She calls her education the „darkness of serious music“ where she first tried to belong, then to break free with the help of lo-fi synth pop. On Uzun Havalar she translates her experimental background into these floating folk ballads. The album was originally released on tape via Kinship in 2018. In case you need comparisons, think of like Bruce Haack or The Space Lady, sharing their childlike curiosity for electronic sounds, pushing the boundaries of minimal equipment.

“I think the secret lies, as it so often does for me with new music, in a perfect balance of reference and invention. There are familiar elements – the storytelling in sound of Laurie Anderson, the Dada folksploitation of Aksak Maboul, Berlin school synth romance and Anatolian pop Melodies. But there’s something in the feel and execution I’ve never heard before.” (Time Is Away)

Tracks

A1 Görünmez Hava
A2 Ay Çürüdü
A3 Adieu
B1 Casio Havası
B2 Ya Evde Korksan
B3 78 Yılının En Uzun Dakikası

Recorded and produced by Anadol at Tempelhof Studios Berlin, 2015. LP released in 2019.