If this conversation were to unfold under the sonic shadow of one of your tracks, looping in the background like a distant echo, what song would it be?

Volkan: That would definitely be Rituel

Turkey sits on the faultline between East and West, haunted by collision and contrast. How has growing up within that charged cultural split shaped your urgency to make? Over the years, has the atmosphere for dark or underground subcultures in Turkey shifted?

Doruk: That’s a very accurate observation. That reality works both ways. Being exposed to influence from the West and the East helped us feel richer in culture as well as feeling anxious about our identity. It took half a lifetime to overcome the anxiety part when we understood that Turkish culture is neither of those but a thing on its own. Naturally, that cultural split is very very charging, it’s the driving force behind our music. At this point I have to admit that we never intentionally tried to fusion the west and the east through our music. We have Turkish lyrics and literature but we avoid directly implementing eastern motives in the music.

Volkan: Turkish underground was never too strong except metal music which entered in the late 80s. Maybe psychedelic rock was a thing in the 70s and many releases may have been done but that era phased away rapidly. Hip-hop entered from the underground in the 90s and stayed underground until 2010s, now it’s mainstream. As for post-punk and wave, they never really entered because Turkey was under military administration and a closed country when these styles were in fashion in the early 80s. There’s been a small movement on that front since the mid 2010s with bands forming but it’s still not a big community.

You met in 2009, orbiting around the same sonic obsessions. Do you remember the exact pulse, sound, or image that made it clear you had to start creating together?

Doruk: It was almost instant that we had started creating together. As soon as I heard Volkan’s work, we were already on a roll.

What was the first emotional temperature you wanted She Past Away to hold? Has that core changed as the band enters a more mature phase?

Volkan: The core remains the same. We are trying not to repeat ourselves while maintaining the original attitude. Dark, moody and dancey.

Repetition, restraint, and rhythm: your sound walks the line between trance and unease. Is that tension part of your writing ritual? 

Doruk: Absolutely. The repetition brings that dance floor feel. Riffs and melodies bring the flow and mood.

When you’re writing, does the language lead or does the beat carve out a void for the words to inhabit?