Middle Eastern masters of retro-futurism, El Khat, herald the imminent arrival of their third full-length, the misleadingly-monikered mute, with the release of ‘Zafa’, a gloriously groggy trance-inducer served with side-orders of matriarchal savvy for a budding wife-to-be.

Accompanied by filmographer Kfir Mualem’s dreamlike visuals (see below), ‘Zafa’ clamours with El Khat’s trademark strains of scavenger ritualism, pairing landfill percussion and jerry-built strings with woozy organs, boisterous horns and polyphonic Yemeni melodies to ferment an incantatory chimerical fix extolling the benefits of experience and forgiveness.

Elaborating on the track, El Khat’s leader and multi-instrumentalist Eyal el Wahab, says, “The song is an interpretation of a classic wedding march: the farewell from the young bride, the words of wisdom from the grandmother as the bride heads off upon her independent journey…”  

mute will be released on September 13 via Glitterbeat Records