Anatolian psych-folk fire and balm starring the angelic Derya Yıldırım and her band, Grup Şimşek reprising classic ‘70s styles with a timeless vivacity

While the quintet were all born between the ‘80s-‘90s, Yıldırım and Şimşek could easily be mistaken for a band twice their age on 3rd album ‘Dost 2’. ‘Dost’, loosely translating as ‘friend’, signifies the familial quality of their recordings, which pull from various aspects of the psych, folk, jazz and funk styles perhaps best associated with Selda Bağcan to our ears via the Finders Keepers reissue programme of a decade ago, or the likes of Derdiyoklar İkilisi, who, like Yıldırım, share a German-Turkish provenance.

A strong look for those oriented to East-West fusion styles, the eight songs play to a sultry and seductive scheme, with Yıldırım’s lush bağlama, or saz, and lilting vocals supported by dusted grooves of drums, synth, organ, guitars and flute, with additional instruments and the backing of Die Vorletzten Formen der Hausmusik choir.