Elif Yalvac ‘Green Drift‘ (CD)

‘Green Drift’ marks the follow-up to Elif Yalvaç’s internationally-acclaimed Mountains Become Stepping Stones album (NNA Tapes, December 2020). ‘Green Drift’, however, was created collaboratively by being in the same place: after she got an endorsement from Arts Council England, Elif moved from Turkey to the UK with a global talent visa, and this album is one of the first creative products made possible by this move.

Following years of making music at a distance, Elif and Andrew Ostler met in Edinburgh in April 2022 to record this album as live improvisations with bass clarinets, guitars, and modular synthesiser, followed by careful editing and re-composition. Over several days of recording and several weeks of listening and discussing, a coherent sound emerged from their distinctive and contrasting sonic approaches.

‘Green Drift’ represents the special places that were often inaccessible for Elif. The music was also directly inspired by the green views of Edinburgh and her current south of England home when it was recorded and finalised.

But ‘there’s a reason for green’: as the cover and album title suggest, this living, beautiful green is also fragile and increasingly at risk.