“Fed by the fear, the childhood trauma gods
Holy hangdogs filled everywhere
When the reason ebbs
Cities are looted
This rage is to all of them”
Beware the fury of Akan Bir Nehir, the post-punk, darkwave band hailing from Istanbul, Turkey. With their latest single, ÖFKE, meaning “rage” in Turkish, they transport us on a journey through the dark, winding paths of Anatolia’s ancient culture. This track is but a taste of what’s to come in their upcoming album “Tears of Heraclitus,” which draws its name from the teachings of the wise Ancient Ionian philosopher himself. For as Heraclitus so famously said, “τὰ πάντα ῥεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει” – “Everything flows, nothing is static.”
In the unfathomable depths of a rebellious soul, ÖFKE emerges as a blistering, untamed creature, hungry for the forbidden taste of liberation. This auditory symphony embodies the seething desperation of countless voices, violently censored and smothered by the oppressive hand of a system hell-bent on snuffing out dissent. V. Bora Uğur, the alchemist behind this incendiary fusion of sound and fury, deftly weaves together the rawest threads of human emotion, crafting a tapestry of pain and wrath that stands as a defiant testament to the human spirit.
Sema Seren, a siren in this maelstrom of discord, lends her intoxicating voice to this infernal uprising. Her vocals, a seductive whisper amid the tempest, ensnare the listener with an allure that is both hypnotic and haunting. Together, Uğur and Seren have forged a weapon of sonic defiance that resonates with the primal screams of the oppressed, a clarion call to rise against the suffocating tyranny of silence.
The relentless beat cuts through the skin like a knife hitting bone while Güneş Yüzak’s emotional saxophone screams with the guitar’s battle cries, creating a hauntingly experimental experience. Akan Bir Nehir sounds as if Dead Can Dance had collaborated with Tuxedomoon and James Chance. This is not just music, it’s a powerful experience that demands to be heard.
Akan Bir Nehir, which often critically handles the real problems of ordinary lives in its songs, dedicates its new single to the earthquake that took place in Turkey that caused the death of 50,000 people and the destruction of cities.