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Portrait and a Dream

by Mehmet Ali Şimayli

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

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      $10 USD

     

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
Ink 05:24
2.
Dryad 07:04
3.
Ever-Reign 05:52
4.
5.
Gara de Nord 06:40
6.
7.
Condensation 08:57
8.
Frozen darkness lost in space and time, Crystal silence locked inside my mind Chasing demons paste them out of reach Slumber frosted ease them back to sleep Sharp and silver, darted for it’s mark Reason wasted on a broken heart Joy, hiding behind the farthest tree Warming sun glow, chilling within the well of me I couldn’t touch our love to be Empty shell, sinking in an icy sea Here standing before the water’s edge Sculpted memories, fashioned from an old aging head I can’t feel, so dream, instead Restless souls, hanging upon this season’s ledge.
9.

about

A few years ago, Mehmet A. Simayli embarked on a journey which would come to be known as Portrait and a Dream. Centered on authentic collectivity, shared curiosity, and affective inspiration, this journey became a space of mutual recognition — an avenue of acknowledged vulnerability and musical discovery. Gathering musicians from the Istanbul métropole and different corners of the world, the project became a shared space where participants, acknowledging the collective essence of the journey, were able to bring their subjective experiences to the process of artistic creation, whereby their individuality knowingly melted into a musical movement, materializing in the background of a nostalgic aura — one, that emanated through the hazy tunes of cosmopolitan Istanbul streets and its idiosyncratically aestheticized improvisation stages. An eclectic unity emerged naturally from the narrative-oriented compositions of the participating musicians, who convened under the shared umbrella of musical honesty and trust, despite having individuated their artistic capacities and influences. Live recorded in a calculated attempt to mediate meticulous composition with the dynamic flux of improvisational performance, the first album of this collective sets off to express musical boldness and drama, not only in its particular movements, but also in its aimed universality, reaching out to the essence of the human condition in an unprecedented fashion. Taking on a heterodox approach to electro-acoustic interventions, the album aims to bring out the eternal nature of possibilities laying within what we access only as a contemporary medium, which is, in fact, only a manifestation of a dynamic movement, that seamlessly pushes temporality out of the picture, leaving a field of resolution and reconciliation behind. As the musical element within the compositions align with their designated notions, Portrait’s first album pulls its listener towards an uncanny yet constructively disorienting space, where one feels immanent authenticity’s marriage to artisanal flux. Let this collective, of people and tunes, sounds and compositions, moments and universalities, remain as a testimony to sincerity — to the year 2021.

credits

released January 21, 2022

Barış Ertürk – Soprano Sax. (Tracks 1,7), Tenor Sax. (Tracks 2,8), Baritone Sax. (Track 3), Bass Clarinet (Track 5)
Kerem Can Dündar – Electric Guitar, Pedals
Cenk Esen – Piano, Keyboard (Tracks 3,4,5,6,8,9)
Anıl Bilgen – Piano (Tracks 1,2,7)
Yiğit Can Öztop – Electric Bass (Tracks 3,4,7)
Apostolos Sideris – Double Bass (Tracks 1,2,5,6,8,9)
Randy K. Esen – Vocal (Track 8)
İpek Göztepe – Vocal (Track 4)
Esmani Kılıç – Congas (Tracks 4, 9)
Can Kuman – Electro-acoustic Sound Design
Mehmet Ali Şimayli – Drum Set, Congas (Track 9)

Ceylan Akçar - Recording Engineer
Can Aykal - Recording Director

Burka Bayram - Artwork Design
İrem Arditty - Photography, Editing

All tracks are composed by Mehmet Ali Şimayli.
All tracks are arranged by Mehmet Ali Şimayli, Kerem Can Dündar and Erman Dirikcan.
All tracks are edited, mixed and mastered by Can Kuman.
Recorded in Hayyam Studios, Istanbul on March 2021.

Unit Records, 2022

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about

Mehmet Ali Şimayli İstanbul, Turkey

Mehmet Ali Simayli is a drummer and composer from Istanbul, Turkey. He continues his works in Basel and Istanbul by having musical and non-musical sources of inspiration around.

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