Airplanes And Apples
If it's answers you are looking for, well, keep on looking. Because providing definite answers to life's most existential questions would be pretentious to say the least and that is not what Istanbul's free-spirited, borderline nihilist, progressive rock outfit Nihil Piraye is all about. The seven-piece ensemble would much rather ask questions, serve up food for thought and do its musical thing.
If we may diverge into existential nihilism for a moment, being the underlaying philosophical belief that life in itself has no intrinsic meaning or value, that the individual or even the entire human race is basically insignificant, then we would also like to emphasize that the only meaning to life is rooted in change.
Only transformation is certain and so, following the release of their debut longplayer "Sanduka" at the start of 2016, leading by example, Nihil Piraye "radically changed its perspective from a guitar-based rock sound to one led by rhythm and synthesizers", thereby presenting their audiences with a drum-ridden, "ritualistic live experience", while their songs tell "abstract stories in sarcastic, whimsical" fashion.
Befitting their nihilist ways, Nihil Piraye recently launched a new series entitled "Değildir" (which translates to 'Is Not'), consisting of seven tracks, all to be released by the end of 2016. All songs were composed, arranged, recorded and produced by the band itself and mastered by Brian Lucey (The Black Keys, Marilyn Manson, Arctic Monkeys, Beck, Chet Faker).
Kicking off the series late this summer was "Evde Kimse Yok" ('Nobody's at Home'), an upbeat, laid-back homecoming anthem, with a catchy chorus and wailing synths, accompanied by an equally carefree music video from the hands of Two:ThirtyFive.
Next up is the superb "Uçaklar ve Elmalar" ('Airplanes and Apples'). Opening on an off-kilter guitar loop, a driving rhythm kicks in, joined by journeying synthesizers and frontman Berk Sivrikaya's opening verses: "Ben uçak olamam" ('I cannot be an airplane'). The superb video, which you can watch below, features a driverless road trip across empty roads and along coastal plains from dawn till dusk, with an airplane flying high up in the sky above.
Call it just another day in our meaningless lives, "this song in which the planes fly, apples fall, yet everything stays in its right place, serves as a question with no question mark at the end, asked without caring about the answer". To be continued...
If you want to see them play live, their next gig is at Istanbul's Kadıköy Sahne on November 30th.
Nihil Piraye are:
Berk Sivrikaya (vocals, guitars, synthesizers)
Yağız İpek (hybrid drums, percussions)
Zafer Sernikli (synthesizers, percussions)
Alp Alptekin (guitars, percussions)
Ozan Çirkinoğlu (drums)
Emre Dereli (bass)
Erentuğ Turan (saxophone, synthesizers, percussions)
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