Music Box session #9 - The Away Days

Turkish band stopped in to play three tracks from their debut album after performing a headline show in London

Roisin O'Connor
Music Correspondent
Tuesday 25 April 2017 11:26 BST
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Music Box#9: The Away Days

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The Away Days are one of the most exciting new bands in Turkey right now.

Flying in from Istanbul for some gigs in Brighton and a storming headline show at London's Shacklewell Arms, they also dropped by The Independent office for a Music Box session.

We had to hunt down a couple of acoustic guitars as they could only bring so much gear with them from Istanbul but they did the job just fine - Sezer's guitar picking is particularly lovely on 'Downtown'.

As with Little Cub for session #7, this kind of set-up is utterly different to what they're used to, which is equal parts impressive and wonderful that artists are willing to try it.

They performed three tracks off their debut album Dreamed At Dawn:'Downtown', 'White Whale' and single 'World Horizon', which we premiered last year.

Frontman Can Ozen has said of their album: "This is like a recap of all our lives so far in Istanbul. You can find all the happiness and sorrow in it."

You can hear all of that in those three songs in the session (above); the desire to get away and discover somewhere new.

As I said in a review of their live gig, The Away Day's music transcends any sense of place, and while their sound has been compared to everything from Brooklyn shoegaze to California disco, they steer clear of tying themselves to any one set of influences and instead draw on everything from rock to world music.

Thanks to: The Away Days, Dan McCormick, Hugo Campbell, The Independent video team

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