Altin Gün

River & Sky, Field ON, July 18

Photo: Stephen McGill

BY Matt BobkinPublished Jul 19, 2019

8
Amsterdam's resident Turkish psych revivalists Altin Gün faced a major setback after a freak frisbee accident landed member Erdinc Yildiz Ecevit in the hospital with broken ribs. But after some last-minute schedule changes, the band returned for a delayed Main Stage set, delivering their groove-heavy tunes as if nothing had happened.
 
Born after Jasper Verhulst dug into a trove of 50-year-old Anatolian rock music, the six-piece finds Amsterdam scenesters and Turkish musicians alike colliding for a funky update to a lost genre. Led by the beefy, sitar-like tones of Ecevit's saz, the jammy tunes kept the crowd dancing for an hour, as audience members and performers alike lost themselves in the trancelike grooves of the music.
 
Vocalists Merve Dasdemir and Ecevit commanded with their captivating vocals, while the backline, featuring members of Jacco Gardner's band and Jungle By Night, doled out groove after groove, washing the crowd with an immersive sound including auxiliary percussion.
 
With psych acts like Tame Impala and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard still having a moment (and the former even becoming a bona fide mainstream crossover hit), Altin Gün delivered a powerful and timely tribute to the genre's worldly origins. Not even a few broken ribs could stop them from delivering their Turkish psych jams.

Latest Coverage