Kit Sebastian – New Internationale

Description

Kit Sebastianis a duoformedin London by KitMartin and Merve Erdem, spread between Turkey and France. Their new album New Internationale is now on Flying Lotus Brainfeeder record label and unveiled their lead single Metropolis. Speaking on Metropolis, Kit Sebastian says The hook of this track was influenced by how many famous Azerbaijanis musicians (like Vagif Mustafazadeh or Rafig Babayev) approach their melodies, but played over a more western funk groove. We use the familiar Italian analog synth found in a junkyard and a mock-choir to create a choral texture. It ends with a samba section, with two drum kits, horn section and string section partially fed through an analog synth to process it.Lyrically, Metropolis portrays the immigrant experience, highlighting the pressures and disillusionments of trying to find control, meaning, and a sense of belonging in a seemingly indifferent and foreign world, all while grappling with the compromises between pursuing art as a profession and seeking stability. It is about projecting one’s hopes and desires onto a new city, the naive sense of freedom this brings, and the inevitable disillusionment and desolation that follow.

New Internationale their musically irrepressible andemotionally sophisticated third album, and their debut for Brainfeederis deliberate in a way Kit Sebastian has never really been. They wrote most of it on the road, energised by the sounds they discovered as they magpied instruments during their travelsTurkish clarinet, santour, oud, gangsa, zither, harpsichord, and on and on. They cut most of the tracks in London during brief breaks, longtime drummer Theo Guttenplan and double bassist David Richardson joining a panoply of horn, string, and percussion players.

And during a year off from the road, where K. and Merve could concentrate on making sure the pieces moved together, they decamped to the French countryside for two weeks, leaving the distractions and moodiness of home. They captured vocals for 14 songs there in only half that time. Both Kit Sebastians busy touring schedule and subsequent break from it allowed Merve to step fully into these songs and their ever-shifting shapes, her confidence and versatility rising in tandem. But rather than sounding stitched together from these assorted scenes, New Internationale is a riveting synthesis of the sounds and styles that have long tantalised Kit SebastianFrench pop and Anatolian psych, vintage Tropiclia and early rock n roll, with breezes of soul and prog blowing through the open windows of the pairs collective imagination. (via Label)

Label: Brainfeeder
Format: Vinyl, LP, Stereo, Red Vinyl
Released: 2024
Genre: Jazz Funk, Rock, Pop
Style: Psychedelic Rock

File under: Global Sounds