Yaygara (Pre-order)
Sosyete '25

Sosyete ’25’s debut album ‘Yaygara’ is a vibrant journey through love, liberation and the restless curiosity that fuels desire, humour and connection.

The project brings together songwriter and vocalist Merve Erdem (Kit Sebastian/Brainfeeder), guitarist and producer Glenn Fallows (Globeflower Masters/Mr Bongo) and producer and composer Paul Elliott (Call Sender/Asha Puthli/Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band/Project Gemini/Shawn Lee)

Blending Mediterranean disco pop, outernational funk and Turkish poeticism, ‘Yaygara’ follows the singles “Bilmece” and “Oyun”, each offering an early glimpse into the trio’s playful but deeply felt sonic identity. Named after the Turkish word for commotion or uproar, the album is steeped in movement. It opens with “Bilmece,” where Merve’s voice drifts through a dreamlike haze as she contemplates existence as an unsolvable riddle. Paul and Glenn anchor the track with a tough rhythmic core while the Lotar, played by Dan Smith, Paul’s longtime collaborator, takes the track to another place that is strange but familiar.

Merve writes in Turkish, her phrasing carrying an unforced musicality that transcends language. The songs embrace playfulness, ecstasy and open-hearted emotion. The title track turns love into an act of joyful rebellion, while “Oyun” leans into disco funk with a wink, teasing the idea that nobody can or should be everything to everyone. Repetition becomes a kind of ritual throughout the record, phrases looping until they feel communal, inviting listeners into a shared space.

Love, in all its contradictions, is the album’s gravitational centre. It burns brightly in “Yan,” the most sensual track on the record, where desire becomes both transformation and surrender. It’s carried with humour on “Sevgi,” as the narrator stubbornly searches for love everywhere, in dreams, under windows, even inside closets, until it’s revealed that love doesn’t appear out of nowhere, just magically, it’s built. “Sev Delice,” the album’s finale, is bright and uplifting. It’s about loving madly and living freely. Paul jokes that “if Blondie and Barış Manço had a disco-funk love child, it would be ‘Sev Delice’,” and he’s not wrong.

Istanbul-born Merve Erdem, now based in London after years spent in Italy and the US, is a singer, composer, lyricist and filmmaker with roots in Turkish classical and folk music. She began writing songs as a child, drawing early inspiration from artists like Mina, Sezen Aksu, Fairouz and the Rahbani Brothers. Her approach to melody and language is instinctive and poetic, shaped equally by cinema, literature, long walks and everyday experience. Through projects such as Kit Sebastian, she has become known for her ability to balance intimacy with imaginative force, something that sits at the heart of Sosyete ’25.

Suffolk-based Paul Elliott’s journey began in the recording studios and live rooms his father and grandfather worked in. DJing in clubs from the age of twelve and building makeshift studios as a teenager, Paul has since become a restless sonic craftsman. His influences shift weekly, from ESG and Liquid Liquid to The Meters, Piero Umiliani and Barış Manço, but his guiding instinct remains the same: groove, feel and curiosity first.

Completing the trio is Brighton-based Glenn Fallows, writer and producer for Heroes of Limbo, The Globeflower Masters and The Impellers, whose melodic sensibility anchors the project. His interlocking guitar and bass phrases and textural synth work help define Sosyete ’25’s blend of Mediterranean pop, outernational disco-funk and global psychedelia. Together, the trio share an ear for rhythm, a fascination with cross-border storytelling, and a commitment to music that is vivid, emotive and joyfully alive.