Live Review: PREMIERE: Enter the weird and wonderful mind of Fascinator in his new single 'Beyoğlu'

18 June 2020 | 3:00 pm | Emma Jones

While we haven't heard from Fascinator in an official sense since his 2018 album, Water Signs, the long-haired, sunglasses-wearing oddball has been busy of late. Always up to something, we here at Purple Sneakers are thrilled to bring you the first taste of what he's been working on with the premiere of his new single and video titled 'Beyoğlu'. The story of 'Beyoğlu' and how we got to this point is a wild one indeed, which is pretty on brand for Fascinator if we're being honest. Always one to do things his own way, the unconventional single's origin story involves his previous album, a chewing gum commercial, a Hungarian meme and a person professionally known as FuzzWah. Let's dive in, shall we?

Originally meant to be the opening track to Water Signs, the song was removed from the track-listing prior to the album's release. Since then, it was picked up by Orbit Gum for their TV commercial (which has been viewed online over 3 million times). The commercial in question sees two kids making out in a girl's bedroom before being interrupted by her dad. The guy quickly jumps up in his underwear, calls for her to throw him his pants and pops a piece of gum, thus readying him for meeting her father (still underwear-clad). It's a pretty funny ad, but it seems someone in Hungary has taken it one step further and created this video in which the story takes a turn for the morbid, cutting to a man filling in a grave in the rain. Both clips are soundtracked by the psychedelic bassline courtesy of 'Beyoğlu', and have given the song a life of its own.

Fast forward to 2020, and now Fascinator has decided to give the song its official release. Teaming up with FuzzWah, the pair met prior to COVID-19-induced quarantine. Using FuzzWah's analogue video synths and liquid light with footage with footage Fascinator already had, the clip for 'Beyoğlu' now exists! Featuring cuts of Fascinator rolling down sand dunes and rocking out with his majestic mane, the official video for 'Beyoğlu' is a fittingly psychedelic trip down the rabbit hole.

Fascinator said of the song, "Beyoğlu is a district of Istanbul I've hung out in a bunch. I was listening to a lot of Turkish psych when I started this track with the bassline but then once I added layer after layer it travelled to a totally different continent. I'd been jamming a lot of Madlib at the time too."

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Watch 'Beyoğlu' below:

Words by Emma Jones

Image: Mitchell Stafford

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