Scrambling for comparisons to this 31-year-old Turkish singer, one is led to Björk. Not that they sound anything alike, but the pair share an aversion to convention and a gift for costume and dramatic self-presentation (like her famous father, Su Akyol is a painter). This second album refines her mix of intricate Middle Eastern rhythms (so not much 4/4), swaying strings and twang-heavy surf guitar, a meld derived from her love of Turkish stars like Selda Bagcan and imports like Grace Slick and Nirvana. Su Akyol’s voice is light but elegant, and her songs are by turns urgent (Hologram), sultry and romantic (Eski Tufek) and politically barbed (Nargile). The new sound of Istanbul.
