Islandman

From Turkey hails the electro-acoustic downtempo collective Islandman, guided by Tolga Böyük, who functions as its chief multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer. The group’s fluid, ever-morphing aesthetic fuses elusive neo-psychedelia, spacious ambient electronics, and both acoustic and synthesized dance rhythms with glistening, open-ended guitars, saz lines, and keyboard textures. Their 2016 release Agit and the remix EP that followed attracted favorable critical notice. Rest in Space, issued in 2018, earned warm notices throughout Europe and opened doors for live performances abroad. Kaybola, arriving in 2020, propelled the ensemble onto the global stage. The following year brought the live Karavan Sessions EP alongside the studio album Godless Ceremony. Direct-To-Disc Sessions appeared in 2023, recorded in tandem with lifelong Turkish icons percussionist Okay Temiz and saz virtuoso Muhlis Berberoğlu.

Böyük established Islandman as a solo project in 2016. He absorbed two foundational currents while growing up: the folk and classical legacies of the Ottoman Empire together with Anatolian rock, the latter of which later incorporated dance and electronic music. He mastered the long-necked traditional string instrument known as the saz, also called baglama, and continues to write melodies on it instead of guitar or piano. During his teenage years he gravitated toward the psychedelic sounds of Erkin Koray, Barış Manço, Cem Karaca, and Okay Temiz, artists who shaped Anatolian rock between 1966 and 1980.

His first recording, the four-track EP Agit, paired multi-layered guitars reminiscent of Robin Guthrie with straightforward drum-machine patterns, synth-driven electric bass, and additional elements. Even at that stage the project carried international ambitions. The title track and “Tawid” draw from the Malian desert blues tradition, whereas “Ikaru” relies on ambient dub, layered strings, keyboards, and raw rhythms to create its exotic atmosphere; “The True Word of the Wind” frames overdubbed saz with atmospheric reverb. Two volumes of collaborative remixes came next.

In 2017 Böyük assembled a band for live work, bringing aboard drummer and percussionist Eralp Güven and guitarist Erdem Başer. He himself handled bass, electronic drums, synths, additional keyboards, and percussion while producing the material. Drawing on the earlier Islandman recordings, the trio secured a deal with DJ and producer Kenneth Bager’s Copenhagen label Music for Dreams. Throughout the latter half of 2017 they refined an expansive sound that merged Anatolian and Western rock, African traditions, electro-acoustic textures, EDM, and Eastern folk styles. The resulting music drew praise from critics and DJs in Turkey, Lebanon, and Europe, and the group began touring, moving from intimate coffee houses and gritty rock venues to expansive dancefloors in Ibiza and beyond, cultivating an audience that embraced the unclassifiable yet accessible music.

October brought a collaboration with actor, vocalist, and writer Elisabetta Fadini and DJ Phil Mison, recording under the name Ambala, on the single “Alla Vita” and its remix. Islandman achieved wider international recognition with the 2019 album Kaybola. Opening track “Dimitro” combined classical percussion and string instruments with reverb-heavy ambient dub loops, synthetic beats, and the ethereal vocals of Elis Dubaz. The song quickly became a staple in chillout rooms and caught the attention of global DJs and sampling producers. Other notable tracks included “Sahara,” featuring Turkish pop singer Barış Demirel, and “Lumiere,” recorded with Danish electronica producer the Swan and the Lake (Emile Svane Breum) and vocalist-producer Langkilde. “Sem Voce” united DJ Pippi with label head Kenneth Bager under the Copenema moniker. The album’s success translated into extensive touring opportunities; a deluxe edition with bonus material followed in 2020.

March 2021 saw the release of the live recording Karavan Sessions, captured and filmed in concert two years earlier. The two electro-acoustic instrumental pieces stretch across a continuous forty-minute performance. Its exploratory spirit, skillful integration of folk and Middle and Far Eastern classical sources, jazz improvisation, and refined production highlighted the trio’s remarkable musicianship. Gilles Peterson featured the entire forty-minute set on his radio program.

Godless Ceremony, the next full-length, arrived in September. Among its tracks is a remix of Tamikrest’s “Tarhamanine Assinegh,” with the band supporting the original vocals. “Aku Membawa” merges trance house and techno with organic and electronic percussion supplied by labelmates DJ Divo, OliO, and Bager while Böyük chants in Indonesian. In contrast, “Istanbul Lockdown” unfolds as a restrained, cinematic classical-crossover piece reflecting the influence of Armenian duduk master Djivan Gasparian. “Amarnos Ahora” spotlights Ecuadorian singer Huaira, allowing Islandman to weave electronic instrumental lines around her performance with both precision and playful warmth. The off-kilter Bahrain funk of “Eros Dosco Bossa” employs samplers and hypnotic rhythm tracks that evoke equal parts Tangerine Dream and the Orb.

The Bahar EP surfaced in May 2022. Elegantly arranged and produced, its fluid mix and nuanced playing juxtapose Eastern-inspired modes and melodies atop finger-snapping nocturnal grooves and ambient dub. The driving single “Yorgunum Capta,” built around a sampled vocal fragment from the late Cem Karaca, who passed in 2004, gained traction in clubs across Ibiza, Berlin, Rio, and Chicago.

Amsterdam’s Night Dreamer label invited Islandman to participate in one of its Direct-To-Disc sessions. Güven reached out to Turkish percussion legend Okay Temiz, who readily agreed. Böyük likewise contacted emerging Turkish saz master Muhlis Berberoğlu, who accepted the opportunity to perform alongside the adventurous Temiz. Böyük arrived at the studio with minimally arranged tracks; once microphone placements were settled, the ensemble improvised freely over them. Temiz assembled an array of homemade instruments on a table, positioning stereo microphones on either side and moving around the setup to generate a live ambisonic field. Combined with Islandman’s understated, exotic rhythmic approach and Berberoğlu’s virtuosic and imaginative playing, the sessions yielded melodic, rhythmically insistent cosmic dance music. Issued simply as Direct-To-Disc Sessions, the album appeared in March 2023.