Live Review: She Past Away - Hamburg 2024

Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany
13th April 2024
She Past Away - “Disko Anksiyete” Tour - Support: Twin Noir

On 13th April at Hamburg’s Markthalle, a stunning blend of Post-Punk, Darkwave and Gothic Rock, Turkish band SHE PAST AWAY presented their beautifully melancholic new album ‘Disko Anksiyete’, supported by Punk / New Wave duo from Berlin, TWIN NOIR.


Twin Noir

TWIN NOIR is a Berlin based Post-Punk / Wave / EBM artist duo, consisting of Cody Barcelona (voice, electronics, guitar) and Ian Volt (voice, bass). The music of TWIN NOIR oscillates between technoid sounding tones and open wide spheres with melodic moments, combined with satirical-Dadaistic lyrics in German language. The sound of TWIN NOIR is significantly shaped by an analogue tape machine, a sampler, guitars and a theremin. These devices are creatively used to present their own style of Punk. The influences of TWIN NOIR range from German electronic pioneers KRAFTWERK or DAF to the EBM and Techno scene, as well as from 70s to 90s Punk and Rock. https://www.twinnoir.com/



Music & Performance
TWIN NOIR started their freaky show at 9pm with a mix of Punk, EBM and New Wave and 80s equipment. The two musicians from Berlin diligently warmed up the audience, using also a Theremin with analogue synthesizer, fooling around and joking on stage, while telling the audience about the history of the formation of their duo. And then they did a guitar trick in the crowd. The vocalist put the guitar vertically on the palm of his hand and successfully carried it from the middle of the hall to the stage, causing enthusiastic applause of the visitors.

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 5
Sound: 8
Light:7
Total: 6.8 / 10

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She Past Away

SHE PAST AWAY formed in 2006 in Bursa, Turkey. The band’s Avant-Garde music and image gained underground attention internationally in 2010 with the release of the EP ‘Kasvetli Kutlama’. The early Post-Punk electronic sound gravitated to a darker Disco-influenced sound by the 2019 release of the third and most recent album, ‘Disko Anksiyete’. Vocalist / guitarist Volkan Caner played in Extreme Metal and Electronic bands in the early 1990s and moved into Darkwave by the end of the decade. Unable to find fellow musicians interested in committing to this genre of music, he started composing songs alone, under the name PSYCHOMA. These songs later evolved into SHE PAST AWAY. Caner has paired with keyboardist and electronic percussionist Doruk Öztürkcan since 2015 for live performances. https://shepastaway.org



Music & Performance
Already at before the show started, the Hamburg Markthalle with a capacity of 600 people, was already full - there is a healthy interest in Post-Punk concerts here, and this is a good thing. But it shouldn’t be any different, because SHE PAST AWAY is a much respected band in this musical genre. On the one hand, this show was a typical static Post-Punk concert, on the other hand Volkan Caner and Doruk Öztürkcan presented a sound that was both retro and post-modern. Doruk waved his drumsticks and had fun behind the synthesisers with noticeable passion and even took over Caner’s vocals in the club classic ‘Ritüel’, which gave the song an interesting new sound. The electronic pulsating rhythms reminded of the New Wave music of the 1980s, causing a large part of the audience to sway in place to the grooves. Ominous vocals and minor chords made the music more mysterious and darker, distancing SHE PAST AWAY from New Wave.



But in fact only a few tracks from the still relevant album ‘Disko Anksiyete’ were played, such as ‘Durdu Dünya’, ‘Disko Anksiyete’, ‘Izole’, and the rest were time-tested club classics like ‘Ruh’, ‘Kasvetli Kutlama’, ‘İnsanlar’, etc. Nevertheless, the atmosphere in the hall was great, one girl in front of me was so full of emotions that she literally fell down from her feet and almost dragged me with her. Fog and dark lighting are certainly not the best conditions for photography, but this creepy atmosphere is exactly what is needed to perceive SHE PAST AWAY’s art and to get completely immersed as it is said. SHE PAST AWAY are singing in Turkish, but that’s no obstacle. Caner’s deep and gloomy vocals combined with Öztürkcan’s computer programming have a meditative, trance-like effect on you, and you want to listen to it again and again, even without understanding the words. But for those who, like me, still want to understand what Caner is singing about, you can find translations of many of his Turkish lyrics in 10 languages here: https://shepastaway.org/lyrics/

Setlist
01. Durdu Dünya
02. Katarsis
03. Disko Anksiyete
04. Asimilasyon
05. Ritüel
06. Inziva
07. İzole
08. Ruh
09. Sessiz Orman
10. Kasvetli Kutlama
11. İnsanlar
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12. Bozbulanık
13. Monoton
14. Hayaller?

Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Light: 7
Sound: 9
Total: 9 / 10

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All Pictures by Iryna Kalenska