"The Record Of Broken Heart" - Orient Expressions

Orient Expressions

Kirik Kalpler Albumu (Record of Broken Hearts) is an echo of the golden age of 60’s Turkish Cinema (Yesilcam) from the days when the tunes were catchy, bathetic and oh-so-eclectic. It is an hommage to the ‘those were the days’ feel of a certain sound in the 60’s and 70’s that longed for something that never quite was and that was made manifest through the voices of Zeki Müren and many others.
Of course OE has its electro-tense sound in the vibe tunes of Poyraz, Buce and straight ahead folk influences with the likes of Yar Imis Meger and Faniler - a take on love of an other- worldly nature. Speaking of the sublime OE teams up with Jhelisa to create Angels, a story about falling and rising in full-voiced transformation. The tie that binds the album centers on the series of songs that manifest the lovelorn in Su Gibi (like water I flow to you) to the Pavyon Girl’s lament, taking on the age old theme of ‘love for sale’. In full retro-guise ‘Asik Olma’ pays a tongue-in-cheek salute to the love that is neither hot nor cold in a very contemporary sentiment of ‘just don’t fall in love’. ‘Another kind of love’ (Baska Bir Ask)trails an upbeat, carefree sort of Afro-Anatolian feel while Tutsak ‘The Prisoner’ is a romp through a Balkan/New Orleans vibe.
OE has realised these tunes through the voice of Berin Koc and the well endowed percussion of Levent Guzel. With Sehristan, an ode to Istanbul, OE continues to tune into the big city – a piece that Fatih Akin also employed in the audio accompaniment to his book on his famed Crossing the Bridge documentary.