Summer In The City Gets A Little Hotter With Uptempo Pop Romp ‘L.A. Nights’
It has been celebrated by artists as varied as The Mamas & The Papas, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Kinks and Guns N’ Roses. And now the city of Los Angeles has a brand new sonic love letter, thanks to Ayhan Sahin’s “L.A. Nights,” released by independent label Young Pals Music.
Guided by a manifold of strings, the joyous, uptempo “L.A. Nights” opens with the revelry of classical guitars—a bow to R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” (courtesy of the acclaimed Rafael Cintron). The song then unleashes a cascade of plucky acoustic guitars and then a wondrous blur of electric guitars (from Dan DelVecchio). The latter two mesh in the song’s midsection into a kaleidoscopic force field that is ultimately part of the song’s defining calling card.
Even so, it’s just as likely that the anthem’s maddeningly catchy chorus will live long in listeners’ heads—and speakers. Written by Sahin with Bernadette O’Reilly, he sings, “In the starry twilight, west of ‘cannot do it,’ Southern California stands/Facing towards the ocean, bonding with the people, urging everyone to dance/L.A. Nights, the city of lights will zap you right between the eyes, one little slice is like a never-ending ride, open your mind and find the secrets that unfold.”
Joining in the rollicking roister is a festive choir of background vocals from the likes of Broadway household David Keeley, renowned vocalists Keith Fluitt (Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Ashford & Simpson) and Jerri Bocchino (Phil Spector, John Lennon, Cher) and award-winning New York singer/songwriter Lina Koutrakos, alongside the instrumental finesse of Mike Sorrentino on drums, Carras Paton on bass and saxophone, Rafael Cintron and Dan DelVecchio on guitars, Rob Preuss on keyboard and Tom Gallaher on piano.
“I wrote this song as a tribute to my time living in Los Angeles in a different era,” songwriter and co-producer O’Reilly says. “I was just starting out as a songwriter in the ‘80s music industry and all things were possible. That inspired the lines, ‘Nothing’s in the way of the imagination, Letting every dreamer have a clearer picture of what’s inside the heart.’ For sure, once you’ve lived in Southern California, it never leaves your heart.”
Sahin adds, “I’m originally from Turkey—a long way from L.A.—but I spent summers on the warm and dreamy Aegean coast of Bodrum, where it is much like the U.S. West Coast. I loved bringing my memories of a similar land into singing Bernadette’s words.”
“L.A. Nights” is the sixth single release from “Pop,” the first full-length namesake collection from Young Pals Music founder Sahin—and one of the rare tracks featuring him as lead vocalist. The album was awarded two Akademia Music Awards for previous singles “Since You’ve Been Gone” and “Love Everybody” and Global Music Awards for “Drink.” The collection offers 12+ diverse vocalists & musicians across a myriad of styles, including R&B & soul, dance, rock, country and of course… pop.
As a songwriter and producer, Sahin has achieved notoriety in pop, rock, dance and musical theater, while working with Olivia Newton-John, Anita Ward, Melba Moore, Phoebe Snow, Broadway star Bianca Marroquín, Turkish superstars Sezen Aksu and Sertab Erener, Sandra Bernhard and five “American Idol” finalists. He appeared live on Univision, MTV and on CNN, while Sahin’s music has been featured on and in CNN, The Los Angeles Times, Playbill, Broadway.com, Yahoo! Music and “The Wendy Williams Show”; and heralded by USA Today, New York magazine, MTV and The New York Daily News.
