An article by James Stocker

Istanbul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and visual artist Erkin Gören, now resident in Berlin, recently self-released his eighth record, Robust, a diverse collection of eight tracks that sport both overt and subtle experimentation and variation. None of them are content to rest on their laurels, ever transforming and changing shape with clever, chameleon like arrangements and lasting deviations, marking somewhat of a change in direction for the talented Kadiköy native.

Beginning his musical odyssey in a solo sense back in 2000 with a collection of home recordings and expanding out to release two more full lengths proper plus the covers album Blue Salis Covers in 2009,  this is actually the second full length of 2011 for the prolific DIY artist and third in just two years. Gören released Kestim Öldün in February, a more straightforward effort and enlisted a band to assist him with the final product. Each song takes on a style and pretty much sticks to it.

This time around, Robust sees him doing everything himself bar some assistance from the Wedding Crew with each track employing a variety of styles, from pop to prog rock, jazz, trad, swing and folk and shifting gears constantly. Witness the swing laden experimental stylings on opening number, ‘Üstüme’ which you can download as a taster below. He also has a video to go with it.

Indeed, if you like that track you can get the whole thing over at his bandcamp for a well worth it 3 Euro, or tellingly, and this says something about why Gören makes music, if you email him and ask he’ll send you back a code to grab the album for free. You can’t get better than that.

@ Indie30