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The 12th installment of the project features a review by Yigitcan Erdogan for the EP "Part-time Punk" by Her Absence Fill the World. Released last June on Detriti Records, the first EP of the Berlin-based transnational duo invites you to a journey along the dark-wave-infused tracks.
"Her Absence Fill the World doesn’t promise you a destination. Only a journey. Within that journey, you will breathe in the chaos of Neukölln, the staunch appreciation of Ayrancı and even the encompassing melancholy of Turkish poetry. There are Blood Sounds on my Handkerchief after all. Just like the poet said"
Yigitcan Erdogan: The first thing you feel when you start listening to Her Absence Fill the World’s debut EP, Part-time Punk is anticipation. The absolutely awe-inspiring opener Inside, Outside immediately draws you in with its dark and relentless rhythm, holds you in an unforgiving stasis; then smacks you upside the head with its addictive melody. Consider yourself warned.
This sense of anticipation and expectation of exhilaration pays off in the next track though: Falling Against the Wall. In a style that can only be described as a chiptune that dove headfirst into a Moroder-esque synthmare; the second track of the EP raises the stakes while still keeping you interested. “Where will they go?” you ask yourself; “Where are they taking me?”
Photo by Emrah Özdemir (Berlin, 2021)
"The absolutely awe-inspiring opener Inside, Outside immediately draws you in with its dark and relentless rhythm, holds you in an unforgiving stasis; then smacks you upside the head with its addictive melody."
Photo by Emrah Özdemir (Berlin, 2021)
Funnily enough, the answer lies in the cities the band members have spent considerable time in. While a Berlin band through and through, Her Absence Fill the World also carries the marks of the Turkish capital Ankara. While these cities might not have too much in common; certain similarities shine through in the title track, Part-time Punk. It’s visceral, hopeless, exhausted yet somehow also calculated, horizontal, and dynamic. Because just like both Berlin and Ankara; Her Absence Fill the World doesn’t promise you a destination. Only a journey. Within that journey, you will breathe in the chaos of Neukölln, the breeze of Çiğli, the staunch appreciation of Ayrancı and even the encompassing melancholy of Turkish poetry. There are Blood Sounds on my Handkerchief after all. Just like the poet said.
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"Her Absence Fill the World doesn’t promise you a destination. Only a journey. Within that journey, you will breathe in the chaos of Neukölln, the staunch appreciation of Ayrancı and even the encompassing melancholy of Turkish poetry. There are Blood Sounds on my Handkerchief after all. Just like the poet said"
Photo by Emrah Özdemir (Berlin, 2021)
So when you ask yourself, quite innocently; “Where will they go?” and “Where are they taking me?”, you should understand that the answer is hidden in the last track; Dead Hands. This EP is taking you to yourself and locking you in. You will face your fears and all the dreams you’ve dreamt for all these years. It will build, build, build, and finally; you’ll find yourself on a ledge.
Whether or not you will jump or float, is entirely up to you.
Yigitcan Erdogan: What was the dominant emotion running through the tracks when you were making them? How did it feel to perform and construct these tracks?
HAFTW: I think we can describe the creating process of the EP and our music in general kind of reciprocal. We made these tracks in very heavy times and we brought some feelings of restlessness, hopelessness, and anger. The tracks while growing brought something back. Very positive feelings for example but also much darker places. I think it’s not sure if we made them or not they even or at least the process of doing them shaped us more in return.
Yigitcan Erdogan: Who were your biggest influences for this EP, both from within the world of music and without?
HAFTW: Definitely the dynamic we had in these times. But also that empty and at the same time very challenging feeling from outside and inside us. That had a lot of impacts - I think we can even say, since there were not many other ways to let some troubling things go back then, they’re in this music now. The biggest musical influences - that is hard to say, it is changing. Nowadays, we’re digging into old Turkish GAZINO Music. It is fascinating to us. Back in that EP, I think it was some craving for past club nights paired with the hopelessness, sadness, and rage of our favorite Dark-Wave and Postpunk Artists.
Editor: Yigitcan Erdogan
Graphic Layout: Can Hatunoglu
Photos: Emrah Özdemir
Buy HAFTW - Part-time Punk EP on Bandcamp
NCOUNTERS, Berlin (2021)