Tropical Anatolia

At the bottom of my street is a restaurant called Tropical Sushi serving Japanese dishes with a South American theme. It shouldn’t work, but it’s a pretty enjoyable fusion. The same can be said of this debut from a Danish-based trio who combine Anatolian folk with cumbia rhythms and a dose of psychedelia.

Much of their appeal lies in the virtuoso saz playing of Orhan Özgur Turan, whose raw and spindly fret-shredding on tracks like ‘Ay Adam’ and ‘Neşe’ provides a welcome counterpoint to beach-bar grooves that are in danger of feeling just a little too laid back. Much like Baba Zula – with whom there’s an obvious comparison to be made – you can’t help wishing for a bit more boom in the bass and bite in the beats. The best moments come from more explicit nods to 70s Anatolian psych: the steely strum and crawling groove of ‘Atım Arap’ echo Barış Manço’s ‘Lambaya Püf De’; while ‘Mustang,’ with its fuzzed-up saz and swirling Hammond organ suggests Moğollar on tour in Bogotá. Ipek Yolu, incidentally, is the Turkish name for the old Silk Road that connected East and West. It’s a fitting moniker for this 21st-century spin on an intercontinental adventure.