Miklagard Project: Tales from the Bosporus - Electronic Pop from Istanbul
- Martin
- Apr 29
- 1 min read
I’ve released the electronic pop album Tales from the Bosporus today - a project built around vocals, international collaboration, and a sound shaped by Istanbul’s past and present.
Electronic pop. Melodies. Vocals up front.
As composer, lyricist and co-producer, I keep myself in the background as a backing voice, while the vocals take the lead. Miklagard is a nod to my own Viking-rooted identity and the name the Vikings gave Constantinople.
I’ve worked with artists from Turkey and a wider international scene, exchanging ideas, recording and sending audio back and forth online. The different voices give the songs character and variation, while the sound sits between tight pop and lo-fi inspired textures - with a clear reference to 90s European pop.
The album moves in two directions:
The historical
Songs like “From the Gutter (of the Hippodrome)” draw on Theodora and her movement from the bottom of Hippodrome of Constantinople to power.
“That Day in Late May” centres on the rupture of 1453, while “Across the City of the Blind” reaches back to Byzas and the city’s beginnings.
The present
Here, the tracks are built on rhythms and moods from the Bosporus - ferries, movement and pace.
In “Golden City”, the style is pop-oriented with clear hooks, but with layers of historical references and places underneath.
It’s a direct extension of mitistanbul.dk.
Same material - just in a musical format.
