Shedding years of conditioning to uncover our truest selves can be a lifelong journey. The behaviors and identity traits we adopt during our formative years become deeply ingrained, making the process of “finding yourself” fraught with challenges. With her debut album, Bedside Tunes, releasing on October 25 via Brooklyn-based indie label 2MR, electronic musician and filmmaker Ece Era (pronounced “edge-uh air-uh”) presents a body of work that seeks to reveal this inner self. Beyond the conditioning of her childhood and the culture of her home nation, Turkey, lies Ece Era’s “real persona.” Through her music, she expresses that abstract, authentic inner voice, speaking with honesty and truth.
Her new single and video, “Inner Feeling” delves into the complexities of modern love and desire shaped by social media and dating culture. She tells, “While experimenting with the Korg M1 plugin, I discovered the perfect piano sound, reminiscent of early trance music, and that’s how “Inner Feeling” was born. The song features simple, repetitive lyrics like ‘Inner feeling guides you to real love.’ It reflects on how love and sex are often linked to power. We rarely pursue our true desires because we’ve lost touch with what they really are. Social media constantly shows us images of curated perfection. I wanted to explore this idea of desiring people based on thoughts rather than genuine connections following their ‘inner feeling’. Even if these desires don’t fulfill any real needs, they may provide short-term satisfaction but often leave us feeling empty in the long run. To create the song’s mood, I combined different sounds, including recordings of seagulls from Istanbul. It took time to get everything right, but each detail was important to capture the feeling I wanted the song to express.”
Ece’s self-directed music video is set in a nocturnal forest as 2D animations by Stan Lievens of “perfect” men and women flicker between the trees. These images, symbolizing power devoid of true desire, taunt Ece as she searches for something authentic. Despite her efforts to destroy these illusions, they stand strong, like ancient trees. The video concludes with a poem written by Ece to the viewer.
Ece Era transforms her vocals, wrapping them in warm layers of electronica that oscillate between melancholy and optimism. This vocal alteration signifies her attempt to reinvent herself–a sonic remodeling that brings her closer to her essence. Throughout the album, Ece Era’s songs are rich with emotion, blending hazy moments with vibrant beats. The throbbing pulses of techno on “Sunny” and “You Know What Goes Down” contrast with the mournful piano on “Childhood Echoes.” Meanwhile, “Another One” and “Inner Feeling” feature crisp 4×4 beats and narrative vocals, with the latter adding uptempo breaks and a tender atmosphere. Bedside Tunes offers an unpretentious, unfiltered glimpse into Ece Era’s psyche.
Developing a passion for both music and filmmaking, Ece Era–now based in Brussels–has found these two creative avenues to offer contrasting yet equally enriching opportunities. The blank sonic canvas of her musical explorations allows for emotional articulation and the reinvention of her identity. Music-making can be spontaneous and unstructured, requiring little planning and providing freedom of expression. In contrast, filmmaking is a more rigid process, necessitating a team, planning, and scheduling. Music, often an uncomplicated solo endeavour, enables her to channel her “feral child”–a term she uses to describe the part of her that was left unsupervised during her youth. This “feral child” also serves as the inspiration for Bedside Tunes.
The title Bedside Tunes reflects the origin of most of Ece Era’s ideas, which came to her as she was about to sleep. She kept a laptop by her bedside to capture these raw inspirations immediately upon waking. Beyond her quest for self-discovery, Ece Era intentionally avoids strong influences or inspirations in her musicality. The album is driven by feeling rather than emulation or intellectualisation–less thinking, more expression. This approach is evident across all 9 tracks, which showcase a captivating depth and emotional resonance. Ece Era’s minimalist “studio” setup, consisting of only a laptop, a midi keyboard, and numerous plugins, further underscores the honest intention behind her album. This personal touch extends to the self-directed videos for her music, adding another layer of authenticity to her work.
Bedside Tunes follows her timeless 2022 debut EP, War On Innocence and latest singles / official videos, “Let Go” and “You Know What Goes Down” which were released earlier this year.
