Ece Era Shares Her New Single 'Let Go' Ahead of Debut Full-Length Album

Turkish musician and filmmaker Ece Era (pronounced "Edge-eh") returns with her new single, “Let Go”.

Istanbul > NYC > Belgium, Ece Eryavuz has persistently been on a mission to explore her creative and philosophical interests.  Her music is rooted in a notion of sincerity. It’s deeply personal and representative of one small step on her journey to liberating herself from the identity that was formalised in her youth. 

On “Let Go”, Ece’s “ode to melodrama,” she consciously alters her voice, shrouding her vocals in warm layers of electronica, drifting between melancholy and optimism. The track comes alongside Ece’s striking self-directed dance-based video. Of the single and visual she tells, "I’m not ashamed of my early art, or the things I tried and erased because I hated them; rather, it speaks volumes about the subconscious ways in which what we are exposed to early in life manifests itself. Part of my artistic journey involves letting go of that, of forgetting, in order to create more freely. It's about finding a self within me that is different from my ‘education’, so to speak. ‘Let Go’ (which is ironic now) was the first song I ever started when I opened my DAW. It captures my cultural upbringing, with its melodrama and clichés. For example, I used to watch telenovelas unsupervised every single day. Also, in Turkey, we can be quite dramatic in every way. I consider this song a form of art because of its context: my decision to publish it for the reasons I’m publishing it. I like to abandon videos or songs and then rework them years later when I’ve gotten better at forgetting, but I didn’t want to touch Let Go. It's an adorable song to me because you can really see that pure melodramatic side of me. It is really important to me that I’m being vulnerable."

Now based in Brussels, Ece has found music to be a trusted channel through which free and unbound expression is possible. The blank sonic canvas offered by her musical endeavours allows for emotional articulation and reinvention of her identity. Making music can be spontaneous and unstructured, little planning is needed, which gives way to freedom of expression. In her mid-teens, early explorations of music were limited by the bounds of her field of experience, with pop music and her brother’s love of power metal among the key influences. In power metal especially, it was the repetition of riffs and melodies that she found comforting. This notion of repetitive motifs is the anchor that underpin Ece’s sound to this day.

Developing a penchant for making music, as well as filmmaking, Ece found the two avenues gave contrasting, yet equally beneficial, opportunities to embrace her creative side. Filmmaking is a more rigid process, with the necessity for a team, planning and scheduling, while music could be an uncomplicated solo endeavour. Through her solo work she is able to channel her “feral child” - a term she uses to describe a part of her that was left unsupervised as a youngster. This feral child has inspired the next phase of her musical expression. 

This Summer sees the release of her first full-length album, which follows her timeless 2022 debut EP, War On Innocence – stay tuned for more.

Photo credit: Joselito Verschaeve