Umut Adan and Zebânis released their new album Başka Bahar on 6th of March. The band has quickly emerged as one of the most compelling voices in the contemporary wave of Anatolian psychedelia. Drawing on the deep roots of Turkish folk while weaving in psychedelic textures and increasingly evident art-rock arrangements as he describes, Adan continues to push the genre into new directions.
Adan’s previous work had already begun attracting international attention. His debut album Bahar received a four-star review from western music media and was named among the most notable releases of its genre, introducing his distinctive songwriting and vision to a wider audience.
Speaking in Kadıköy, the Istanbul neighbourhood where he was born and raised, shortly before the album’s release, Adan reflected on the elements that shaped his music, the evolution of his music with Zebânis, and the creative ideas driving Başka Bahar.
A Music Shaped by Life, Learning and History
For Adan, music is not simply style or genre, it is the sum of life experiences.
“Everything that shaped me, what I struggled to learn, what I think I have held onto, and what life carried me toward, when those three things come together, the music that I love emerges,” he says. “This process pushed me toward an authentic point.”
Later studying in Italy, Adan absorbed influences from both Turkish folk traditions and international underground music scenes. His early 7-inch singles attracted attention and praise from critics, helping to establish his unique path within the growing global interest in Anatolian psychedelia revival.
Adan resists reducing his music to a single genre. It’s always difficult to define,” he admits. “We come from a psych-folk background, that’s our foundation. But with the last album, we leaned a ladder against art-rock. So perhaps now we’re standing somewhere between those two worlds.”
Musical influence
Adan’s influences stretch far beyond the Anatolian rock tradition often associated with his music. He cites Turkish folk masters Muhlis Akarsu and Ali Ekber Çiçek to early Pink Floyd to western folk icons enriched by Italian songwriting traditions.
“I try to follow all kinds of music carefully jazz, folk, pop rooted sounds to electronica and indie. But when it comes to shaping my own songs, the sounds and knowledge that accumulate in my mind form something new I blend,” he explains.
Italian songwriting, layered onto his foundation of Anatolian poetic tradition, has also played a significant role in shaping Adan’s artistic style. In Italy, he mentions,
songwriters have long worked within a tradition where literary depth and music naturally coexist.
“It’s normal there for a songwriter to produce lyrics at the level of serious literature,” he says. “In Turkey, many artists who could have done that left the music world unhappy. Those of us who remain are trying to push that standard forward.”
If he could collaborate with anyone today, Adan mentions two contemporary American songwriters: Father John Misty and Jeff Tweedy, which further explains how his own Anatolian psych breed.
Zebânis
Adan’s music today is inspired from his band Zebânis (named after the angels who guard hell in Islamic tradition), the Italian musicians who became his band after years of collaboration. Interestingly, he says the group was not formed in the conventional sense. “We didn’t come together, we couldn’t separate,” he says with a smile. The band, he explains, is built on a shared emotional dynamic as much as musical chemistry, four musicians who tolerate each other’s quirks and support each other creatively and as friends.
Adan had already released music before forming the group and could easily have continued alone. But he felt something unique in their collective sound. “I could have put out more albums between 2019 and today,” he says. “But we knew what we had was valuable. We didn’t want to release something casually. We wanted our work to affect the musical ecosystem around and other bands as well.”
From Bahar to Başka Bahar
Adan’s previous album Bahar (Spring) recorded in London’s legendary Toe Rag Studios with talented producers Marco Fasolo and Liam Watson (The White Stripes, Elephant) revived the sound of classic Anatolian psychedelic rock through analogue recording techniques and layered instrumentation.
The songs blended acoustic folk elements with fuzz-laden guitars, Mellotron textures and subtle political undertones, drawing comparisons to the golden era of 1970s Turkish psychedelia a period marked by artistic rebellion before the politically oppressive climate that emerged in Turkey in the 1980s.
The new album builds on that foundation, reflecting the political turbulence the country has endured while pushing the band’s sound to new territories. Adan describes the record as a delicate balance between acoustic intimacy and electronic textures:
“The achievement of this album, if it reveals itself, will come from bringing extreme acoustic elements and electronics into the same space without taking the easy route.”
The opening track “Bogotá” sets the tone for the album’s direction a hypnotic protest anthem with fuzzy guitars, swirling basslines and driving percussion turn dissent into movement. “Sale Marino” a psych-folk classic, was written on a ferry crossing between Istanbul’s Asian and European shores a symbolic crossroads where Anatolian folk textures meet Western sounds and urban melancholy.
Among the album’s highlights, “Güllerim Derdim” erupts with fuzz-drenched guitar, its atmospheric and chaotic riffs echoing the legacy of Moğollar while pushing toward a renewed strain of Anatolian psychedelia. “Kaptan” captures Adan’s rebellious poetics, with the line “immigration is resistance” distilling his borderless philosophy.
The experimental interludes “İstiklal” and “Porta Palazzo” weave fragments of inner-city noise and electronic interference, reinforcing the album’s art-rock edge. With gritty distortion and shoegaze haze, “Yol Ver” surges forward like a restless late-night drive. “Beni Seçtiğin Bu Yerde” unfolds as a gentle acoustic piece layered with rebellious fuzz guitar and warm analogue textures. It is a humble love song a meditation on belonging, devotion, and the quiet dignity of remembered love. Its sound and poetics quietly echo the spirit of Anatolian folk pioneer Fikret Kızılok, whom Adan met and regards as one of his mentors.
The defiant “Pro War” is the album’s most audacious protest anthem, its sharp lyrics taking aim at swelling global and personal egos, relentless power plays, and the machinery of capitalism, imperialism, a raw shout against endless wars. The protest isn’t just in the words it’s amplified through a masterful fusion of acoustic textures and electronic layers. The album closes with “Khayyâm” its sole English-language track: a romantic, psychedelic ballad that drifts gracefully between melancholy and dreamlike reflections.
The album title, Başka Bahar, which translates as “Another Spring” is a phrase that evokes renewal and hope (Umut) for a better future beyond past hardships or failed endeavours. Its layered meaning resonated across political landscapes, cultures and languages.
Adan had long avoided naming records after films; in the past he had twice considered titles that later appeared in major cinema releases. When the time came to name the new album, he and the label shortlisted dozens of ideas before settling on Başka Bahar.
The Long Road to the Album
Like many musicians, Adan’s career was deeply affected by the pandemic years. ‘’The hardest period was when we felt momentum carrying us forward after Bahar, and suddenly everything stopped due to the pandemic,” he recalls. “Between 2020 and 2024 we had to restart the whole process. He now sees that struggle as part of the album’s creative energy and ultimately something that led to a result, he feels proud of.
Music Without Formula
Adan rejects the idea of composing music with a predetermined message for audiences.
“I never begin by thinking, ‘I want to create this effect on people.’ My first responsibility is convincing myself that the work is honest,” he says. “If someone connects with it, even a little, that’s already enough to keep the wheels of music machine turning.”
One song from his earlier work “Sevdiğimi Seçtim,”2013 single, which he calls his “personal manifesto”.But even then he avoids praising his own work. “Whenever I think I’ve done something right, a moment later I feel I may be wrong. That keeps me moving.”
The New Album Tour
For Adan and Zebânis, the true test of their music remains the stage. Their gigs, already performed in more than twenty shows across six countries, emphasise collective energy and improvisation.
With Başka Bahar now released, the band is preparing for an extensive tour across the UK and Europe. Adan says, “The live side is something we take very seriously. Once the tour starts, everything will move faster, the next recordings, the next ideas.”
Despite early signs of international recognition, including radio airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music and growing European audiences, Adan remains cautious about predictions, which gives an idea about his artistic stance.
“At the moment all we feel is effort,” he says. “Effort is what keeps us moving forward. What comes after that, we’ll understand when we step on stage.” He adds that the UK tour will be key to seeing the audience response.
Blooming Beyond
Adan sees his new directions as the continuation of folk traditions through contemporary expression.
“Every time a musician speaks about another musician in a song, I feel emotional,” he admits. “It reminds me that we are part of a long chain.”
Umut Adan & Zebânis seek to extend that chain, bridging Anatolian folk memory, psychedelic rock heritage, and modern art-rock ambition into something distinctly their own.
As Adan echoes an old Italian proverb: “If it is a rose, it will bloom.”
The new album indeed feels like such a rose, a masterpiece unfolding at the dawn of another spring (Başka Bahar) not only marking a new chapter for Umut Adan & Zebânis but also carries the Anatolian psych flag into exciting new territories.
