An Istanbul Band Tracked Its Second Album at Home and Sings It in Turkish
A gritty, heavy guitar riff opens Bir Bilmece, then soft keyboards slide in underneath and the Istanbul band Kirpi switch from weight to calm. That swing runs through all five minutes and 36 seconds of the single. Released on 25 September 2024 from the band’s second album, Kıyamet, it still rewards a close listen two years on.
Kirpi’s Bir Bilmece sits in the playlist below with our grunge, alternative rock and post-grunge picks, and Kirpi’s artist profile gathers the band’s earlier coverage. The single reached this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks. Press play first, then keep reading for the Istanbul scene behind it.
Istanbul’s Nineties Rock Wave Still Echoes in Bir Bilmece, the 2024 Neo-Grunge Single by Kirpi
Frontman and lyricist Jeff Treves has been blunt about where the sound comes from. In an interview with RGM, he looked back on the 1990s as a paradise for rock in Turkey. The present is harder, though. He described an industry held back by two decades of political turmoil and venues without the basic equipment a loud band needs. Meanwhile, big concerts and festivals are still booked with pre-2000 bands. There are good bands, in his view, but you have to look deep to find them.
Kirpi call their music neo-grunge, and Treves explained the term to Lelahel Metal. For him, grunge was defined by nihilism, sound and simplicity. Kirpi keep that core, so nobody is shredding and nothing about the playing aims to be virtuoso. What they add, unlike the original wave, is synths and electronic effects. They also dislike repetition, which is why their songs rarely sit in long repeating sections.
Bir Bilmece shows the method clearly. The riff is the anchor, while the keys widen it. For example, Dulaxi heard the first shift at around 25 seconds, where the track moves into a smoother, more melodic section with soft keyboard undertones. Similarly, Korliblog picked out the fierce guitar riffs and pounding drums. FVMusicBlog, meanwhile, filed it as a hard-rock single with broody vocals.
Kirpi Formed in Istanbul in 2013 and Tracked Bir Bilmece in a Home Studio Built for Under $5,000
Kirpi formed in Istanbul in 2013. Their debut album, Nöbet, followed in 2017, and the line-up was complete in 2018 when Emre Şen joined on bass. On Bir Bilmece, the credits list Jeff Treves on vocals, synths and lyrics, Jeffrey Trevez on guitar, Uğur Erden on drums and Emre Şen on bass. Paulo Germano mixed and mastered the track.
The songwriting partnership is older than the band. Treves, an animation director and illustrator by trade, started writing poems with his cousin Jeffrey in 2002. Later, many of those poems landed on riffs in rehearsal. The members are all over 40, and music is not their main job. Treves told RGM that this is both a curse and a blessing. They cannot play music all the time, but they do not need it to pay, so they answer to nobody.
That independence also shaped the recording. After Nöbet, the band built their own studio at home for under $5,000, and they now do everything themselves except the final mix and master. Treves records his vocals through an NT2A microphone surrounded by a plastic laundry basket lined with sponges. In return, he can track vocals whenever he likes rather than by the hour.
A Riddle Sung in Turkish About a Place Jeff Treves Visits
The words are in Turkish, and the title means a riddle. The refrain is three short lines: a riddle, the wrong question, in another language. Around it, Treves stacks images of water in the bark of the trees, velvet voices over the mountains and a snow-white stone rising from the horizon. Then a bridge describes figures who vanish, born into darkness and uprooted in the middle of silence. Treves told Lelahel Metal that the song is about a place he visits, because he always writes about whatever he feels most strongly at the time.
The release plan follows the same patient logic. Kıyamet has been coming out as singles across 2024 and 2025, and the band intend to gather them into the full album at the end. Bir Bilmece was one of the first, and Spotify has since added Ramba Tumbalip, Dünün Insanları, Bu Yazın Şarkısı and Yolo.
For Listeners Who Follow Duman and Mor ve Ötesi, Kirpi Add Keyboards to Istanbul Grunge
Two Istanbul bands from the decade Treves admires make natural reference points. First, Duman formed in 1999 and mixed traditional Turkish folk with modern rock and grunge. Their debut, Eski Köprünün Altında, came out the same year. Frontman Kaan Tangöze and bassist Ari Barokas had already played together on the US West Coast. Second, Mor ve Ötesi started in 1995 as students at the Deutsche Schule Istanbul and released Şehir in 1996. By 2004, Dünya Yalan Söylüyor had changed how the Turkish music industry saw rock, and in 2008 the band represented Turkey at Eurovision with Deli.
Kirpi share the language and the heavy guitars, so Bir Bilmece sits comfortably beside both. The difference is the keyboards, which give the song its second, quieter voice.
From the RockRevival.News Curator Team: “Bir Bilmece spends five and a half minutes on a three-line refrain and never wears it out. The keys carry as much of the song as the riff does, which is what keeps Kirpi from sounding like a straight grunge tribute.”
Where to Hear Kirpi and Bir Bilmece
Stream Bir Bilmece on Spotify and follow Kirpi on Spotify. The band’s YouTube channel carries the other videos, and Kirpi post on Instagram, Facebook and X. The single was also covered by Testing Melodies and iChrisgh.
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