You know that moment when you’re at a record store or hanging out with a cooler older cousin talking about music and they hand you an album and say, “This is the real stuff right here?” In 2024, that album could very well be New Internationale by Kit Sebastian.
What makes this album the real stuff? It’s the assortment of genre-hopping that goes throughout the record. Is this jazz? Is it European '60s pop? Is it Tropicália? Yes, to all of them, and still, it’s more.
Kit Sebastian is a duo formed in London by English producer Kit Martin and Turkish-born, London-transplant Merve Erdem. New Internationale is their third album and it continues their journey of exploring the limits of genre-bending in music.
From the first moment you hear Erdem’s voice on the opening track “Faust,” you feel transported to a basement club with stone walls, abundant drinks and a warm glow from the stage lights. The music has a sense of timelessness — all original tracks but with an impression of being a series of lounge room classic covers.
The instrumentation stands out on the album as well. Most of the songs were written on the road, incorporating sounds they heard while traveling the world— Turkish clarinet, santoor, oud, zither and harpsichord, among others.
Another standout track is “Metropolis” which the band says was heavily influenced by Azerbaijani music with an added western funk groove. Lyrically, it’s about the fears of moving to a new city in hopes of pursuing an artistic dream, while also still feeling hopeful in this new environment.
What’s most impressive about the music on New Internationale is that it never sounds like separate sketches of a song waiting to begin after another ends. Instead, it sounds like these sounds were always meant to be played together; forging a new genre inspired by the sounds of the world.
Must listens
- “Faust”
- “Ellerin Ellerimde”
- “Göç / Me”
- “Metropolis”
- “Bul Bul Bul”
- “Odyssey”
