Tolga Fidan - Berg

  • Share
  • There are three things at play on Tolga Fidan's New Kanada EP: soul, vitality and a certain melodic recklessness which is almost definitely responsible for the previous two. The Turkish producer's last release was a finger-clicking jazzy affair on Cadenza, and while the present mood is more of a blue funk, a canorous freedom remains. It manifests itself in a folk-tech jig at once doleful and lively; an off-kilter guitar nocturne and two complimentary pieces of percussion-free—in his words—synthscaping. Discordance is normally revealing of gaps in a producer's understanding of theory, but although the synth play at the end of "Old" does feel lazily haphazard (there's a difference between playing freely along a scale and hitting the wrong notes), for the most part Fidan exacts a congenial melancholy from a slightly recalibrated chord here or a nudged cue there. Similarly, the sensitive velocity of the acoustic guitar line evinces a Logic preset played with heavy thumbs, but instead of sounding inauthentic, it gives a haunted tune its ghost. "Dotdat" and "Synthscaper" are both cinematic in scope and lush in sound. Fidan summons his inner Vangelis, colliding laser-beam sequences into shapeshifting chords for an ambience of sepia-tinted science-fiction. This beat-free environment works for him, but it's within the tech-house frame of "Berg" that the most thrilling results emerge. A mercurial piece of vocal work propelled by an electric fiddle and a beat that feels played, it signals a level of creativity in a form that's apparently much more than rhythm and bass.
  • Tracklist
      A Berg B Old Digital: Dotdat Digital: Synthscaper
RA