Kara Delik: The Singular Trio
A lot of music fans would state that it doesn’t matter who is in a band as long as they play the songs they want to hear. Arguably though, most bands have an identifiable sound based on the people who are playing, all contributing their own styles to make something greater than they would as individuals. This is the case for Kara Delik, whose three members each bring something unique to the band, as heard in their latest mini-EP, ‘Singularities I’.
Kara Delik. From left to right: Andi Sommer, Baris Öner and Eilis Frawley. Image Credit: Toni Petraschk.
The Berlin-based Kara Delik (Turkish for ‘Black Hole’) are made up of saz player Baris Öner, bassist and keyboardist Andi Sommer and drummer Eilis Frawley. All three add their voices to their sound, and all three hail from an assortment of bands among the Berlin DIY music scene. They played their first show in September 2021 for pop im ausland and have since supported Plattenbau, Tropical Fuck Storm and 10000 Russos.
Kara Delik released their first music video for ‘Phew’ in April 2022, with their debut EP ‘Tamam’ arriving the following month. To celebrate the release of the EP on cassette for Interceptor Editions, the band went on tour around Germany in October and November (having already graced several stages around their hometown of Berlin).
More recently, Kara Delik contributed a new song, ‘HmOr’, to the Flennen cassette sampler ‘No. 14’, released in January. In February, Kara Delik embarked on a second tour around Germany, with a festival slot in the Netherlands to promote their new mini-EP ‘Singularities I’. The two-track release was preceded by the single and music video for ‘Strange Attractor’.
‘Strange Attractor’ grabbed the attention of this particular reviewer immediately upon hearing that threatening, delayed drum beat from Eilis Frawley, creating ripples of echo with every bass drum thud. Synth flutters around the listener just as Andi Sommer begins his assured bassline, itself like a soundtrack to a Film Noir. It’s Andi who recorded and mixed this EP, with mastering by James Trevascus.
The trickling sound you hear is that of Baris Öner’s saz playing, an instrument originating from his home country of Türkiye, but also played in its surrounding areas reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire. It’s this instrument that truly sets Kara Delik apart from traditional power-trio bands, topping off their rhythm section with an Eastern European flavour, a combination that is bold, exciting and sounds like it was always meant to be.
‘Strange Attractor’ single artwork.
It would be almost a minute of this character building before we hear the voice of Eilis added to the mix, like a monologue, a diary entry the listener hears playing out in real-time. ‘It took a while now, but this much is true, we’re down as fast as we’re up…’ Eilis sneers at the listener as she says, ‘Tell me just how smart you are, it must be rocket science…’
But it’s the escalation with the first chorus that begins an ascension spiral, increasing the intensity of the music, ‘I see ghosts in stranger’s faces…’ An array of sounds from Baris and Andi whirl between Eilis’ vocal and steady beat, who, by the third chorus is shouting her part, echoed by one of her bandmates; ‘THEY BELONG TO YOU!’ A track that sucks the listener in as if they are at fault, but for what, they’ll never know.
‘Strange Attractor’ is given a visual by film maker Juli Wycisk in which Kara Delik find themselves alone in a convenience store. Eilis tumbles through boxes, searching for something while Baris stares crouched, gazing at refrigeration-lit beverages and Andi drives through town to meet them both. This music video is well matched with ‘Strange Attractor’, as unnerving as the song.
The flipside to ‘Strange Attractor’ (for this is an EP pressed to vinyl) is ‘Iterations’. The track casually begins with Andi Sommer’s bassline, joined by a less processed version of Eilis Frawley’s drum kit, and merely a glimmer of saz, for the moment.
For this song, Andi takes the lead vocal with a considered melody, delivered mechanically, but with soul. He maintains his course as he is joined by Frawley, who overlaps her vocal with his. With Eilis to the left and Andi down the middle, is Baris adding a third melody to the right? Together, Kara Delik appear to create three simultaneous songs for the listener, with each band member vying for your attention.
This is put to rest when Baris Öner silences the vocals with lead saz, distorted and played and struck at like an electric guitar. This moment in ‘Iterations’ is exciting and inspired, bringing it back to the more subdued sound of the opening minute which sees Kara Delik gently stepping away from the song, to vanish in the night.
After releasing ‘Singularities I’, Kara Delik organised a benefit concert in the aftermath of the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria. The trio sold out the show together with Taffee and Deutsche Laichen and raised €4103 for Ahbap, who are assisting with the disaster relief. Digital presales for ‘Singularities I’ also helped to support the cause.
Continue reading for our Q&A with Kara Delik. Eilis discusses the lyrical origin of ‘Strange Attractor’, while Andi talks about shaping the song’s drum sound. Baris shares details of his history playing the saz, and the band tell us how they mould their songs over time. All this and more below!
Image Credit: Toni Petraschk.
1. 'Strange Attractor' is the single from your new mini-EP 'Singularities I', what's the origin of the lyric here? It sounds like a stream-of-consciousness kind of poem?
Eilis Frawley: Yes exactly! It’s a stream of thoughts, some conscious, some unconscious mostly about the way people communicate and stumble through life.
2. Eilis, how did you achieve the drum sound in 'Strange Attractor'? Is that an acoustic kit with delay on the snare?
Eilis: That’s Andi, he has a mic on my snare and runs it through a delay from his set up.
Andi Sommer: Yes, exactly. The Idea was a bit of a reference to the characteristic delay on drums that you can usually find in a lot of dub tracks or remixes.
3. What was it like to work with Juli Wycisk on the music video for 'Strange Attractor'?
Eilis: A total dream. She was very organised, present, brought many ideas and a good bag of tricks with her.
Andi: Together with a friend she also works under the name “SUKA” and they’re doing loads of interesting projects concerning film and theatre in Berlin.
4. Andi, I find your bass sound a central component of Kara Delik, who are your bass playing influences?
Andi: To be honest, I don’t have super clear influences from certain people. Mostly I just have a certain style in mind, and try to recreate that. However I used to play guitar more than I play bass, so I guess that sometimes leads to playing it a bit differently.
5. The atmosphere created in 'Iterations' is electric, how did that form? Did the band jam this one out?
Andi: The song started off with just a simple idea of the drum-beat and bass pattern - then we started playing with it and that’s when it developed to become this long evolving thing that would eventually have its climax in Baris’ solo.
6. Baris I love your saz playing in 'Iterations', what's your history with this instrument?
Baris Öner: Everything started after I moved to Berlin from Istanbul. After a while I started missing home and found this instrument in my hands without planning it. Since I've not been a Baglama (saz) player since I was 3 (people mostly start when they are babies), I still think about what if baglama was just a guitar and how I would play the songs with it.
7. Your songs are very instrumentally minded, have you considered creating more long-form experimental pieces?
Eilis: Normally when we write the instrumental version exists for quite some time before we find the vocals.
Baris: We like playing around with the vocals and finding new ways of how to combine them, and also to incorporate some more experimental things into these kind of songs. Right now our plan is to stick to that, but who knows what’s to come.
8. Andi, you recorded and mixed 'Singularities I', what's the biggest difference between playing these tracks live and laying them down in the studio?
Andi: Obviously recording always allows for a bit more layers and details that are not necessarily reproducible live and on the other hand you always have to decide on one final version. So it’s fun to add little things in the studio that won’t be there on stage but playing them live allows you to do things differently every time.
9. This mini-EP has been released independently, what's the biggest challenge you've found with putting your music out there yourself?
Eilis: There’s a big financial element, to pay everything up front, also to get ‘noticed’ by larger media without the support of an established label.
Andi: While there’s also a lot of administrative work involved, it’s nice to be able to do things that maybe would not be considered a good idea in the label world.
10. You released your debut EP 'Tamam' last summer, what was the first song Kara Delik wrote together?
Eilis: We first wrote ‘oh, well’ in 2020. It was a big challenge at the time but now it feels like one of the easier ones to pull off live.
11. You've been on tour to support 'Singularities I' in Germany and the Netherlands, what kind of reaction have you had to your music on stage?
Baris: It’s pretty amazing to see that there’s a positive reaction from all kinds of different people, whether it’s a festival like Grauzone or other shows with a completely different crowd. And we never thought people would dance like crazy at our shows.
12. Can fans expect more touring in 2023?
Andi: We have a run of festivals over the summer, mostly in Germany and two longer tours scheduled for April and October that will cover Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic.
13. So that was 'Singularities I', are there more volumes to come?
Eilis: You could say that ;)
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The music of Kara Delik is available to download and stream via their Bandcamp page.
Follow Kara Delik on Instagram and Facebook @karadelikband.
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