mute

Eyal el Wahab, the leader of El Khat sees their third album as ‘a story of endings and new beginnings.’ That sense of restlessness and change is exemplified by the fact the group have moved from Jerusalem to Berlin. They still carry with them some of the rawness and idiosyncrasy of using home-made instruments. However, the sound has subtly changed. There is a very heavy synthesised bass; the piercing guitar breaks like sudden mouthfuls of razor wire are gone; the brass now fills out the dense sound, instead of providing the wild, contrapuntal riffs of previous recordings. The unique sound of El Khat, however, hasn't disappeared completely. The rough, restless and strangely nostalgic feel is here, just as on the previous albums, as is the message. ‘Forgiveness, forgiveness will create less mistakes between us,’ sings el Wahab on ‘Zafa’. For all the change, some things remain the same.