EV

The first time I listened to this I was saying to myself (after the first two tracks) "This is just too Spanish for my tastes". When I looked up their bio here and saw they were from Turkey I had to laugh. Besides drums, guitar and bass we get viola and trumpet which play significant roles in their sound. I can't forget the male vocalist who sounds incredible. I would describe their sound as in a similar style to FULANO from Chile. This is a blast !

"Celik Comak" has these fast paced spoken vocals and some laughter, then it kicks in reminding me of AREA. Love the guitar a minute in. Trumpet too. This is insane. Vocals and viola follow. A top four track for me. "Refik" builds nicely and we get vocals before a minute. Lots of trumpet and viola here. Man this sounds Spanish to me. "Nem" turns darker with sampled spoken words and viola before 1 1/2 minutes. A melancholic mood follows. Trumpet joins in. It starts to pick up later. An amazing song and a top four. "Nayu" is acoustic with laid back vocals early on. Spacey sounds before 3 minutes then back to the earlier soundscape to end it.

"Okyanus Duguna" has some spacey sounds to start. Trumpet, viola and a beat take over. "Anonim" opens with stoic vocals and when they stop 1 1/2 minutes in the viola comes in then a full sound. Vocals are back only this time they are alive and passionate. Catchy stuff. "Gozegn" is a top four and it sounds like a different vocalist. I like this one a lot. When the vocals stop it picks up and becomes more intense. "Sermest" kicks in before a minute with fast paced vocals. He puts on quite the show. I like when it settles 2 minutes in. It picks back up late. "Seker" is the final song and my last top four. Acoustic guitar and deep bass sounds lead off. It builds and vocals come in. A child speaks around 2 minutes then the sounds of a school yard can be heard with the children laughing and playing. The child is speaking again before the school yard sounds end it.

This was fun, adventerous and an entertaining listen.

A Turkish band coming from Eskisehir, found in 2000 with the driving forces being guitarist/singer Ahmet Kenan Bilgic, viola player Ömer Öztüyen, bassist Okan Kaya, drummer Gökce Gürcay and trumpetist Serkan Emre Ciftci.The first years Gevende focused on developing a Balkan-oriented sound and performing live.It was the establishment of the Baykus music label in 2005, that gave them the opportunity to record their debut ''Ev'', released in 2006.

''Ev'' sees the group playing an upfront mix of Psychedelic Rock and Folk Rock, creating pleasant and cheerful atmospheres, led by the enjoyable grooves of the rhythm section and the heavy use of brass instruments and viola.The performaces are nice with a pretty abstract mood and extended solo parts by the users of traditional instruments.The music is mostly highly energetic and passionate with the weird Turkish language supporting the arrangements, even perfectly suitable for a party atmosphere.Around the middle the album offers a different and more emotional mood with laid-back, refined and more progressive compositions, influenced by traditional Turkish Music, arranged with a somewhat Classial feeling.Viola, flutes and mellow psychedelic guitars lead the way, while Bilgic'es voice has an evident melancholic color.''Sermest'' is propably the most complex track of the album, here the band delivers a really adventurous Folk/Fusion style with tons of interplays and sudden breaks.''Ev'' offers also lots of mellow acoustic moments with a nostalgic touch and generally the album has a nice flexibilty regarding its emotional content.

Nice and recommended debut, full of passionate, elaborate or groovy compositions.Gevende are definitely a band to keep an eye on.