For Luca - Vinyl

Description

For Luca, the new album by Cuylan, blending elegant contemporary classical music, folk infused with influences from around the world, and delicate electronic music, is partly a tribute to his dog, who passed away too soon. Luca entered Cuylan's life like a key that opens a door, leading him to experiences and explorations that were both new and familiar. At that time, the Turkish musician was living in Los Angeles with his wife and leading an intense creative life, composing and recording music for films and Netflix series. And suddenly, with the adoption of Luca, this little bouncy, furry being arrived, demanding constant attention. Cuylan embraced this responsibility like a father welcoming a child. He grew closer to his wife. He began psychoanalysis. He returned to the acoustic guitar, his original instrument, which he had set aside for twenty years in favor of synthesizers and electronics, post-rock pulses, and more whimsical jazz. Luca was present in the studio when Cuylan recorded his first solo album, No Such Thing As Free Will, released in 2021, an album that The Guardian said "seems to invent new languages for the guitar." There is no doubt that Luca, the dog, made Deniz, the musician, more expressive and vulnerable. Better in his art. Better in his humanity. Luca was only five years old when bone cancer struck him. He left far too soon, like a comet of joy disappearing into a dark and unfathomable universe. Cuylan struggled greatly to accept his absence: he was there, just at that moment! It took a few years, but inevitably, Luca, the catalyst for the new chapter in Cuylan's life, inspired a new form of creation after his death, both in Cuylan himself and in the many collaborators from around the world who participated in For Luca. They all share a deep compassion for the non-human beings with whom we share this planet: dogs, cats, whales, ants, trees. This entire menagerie, our kin within the living. The album is a collective meditation on their immeasurable essence, but also a celebration of it. It was not born from despair, but from a transcendent love, which burns with even greater intensity because it was brief.