Taftir // Od Layla Ba Ayara

Taftir’s debut EP for Batov Records, Od Layla Ba Ayara, sounds less like the introduction of a fully formed band than the moment a shared musical language first catches fire. The project emerged after guitarist and producer Tomer Ben left city life for a remote desert town, where a loose circle of musicians began meeting without a fixed plan. Built from live, largely spontaneous sessions, the four-track release favors chemistry over polish, drawing psychedelic rock, Middle Eastern modal traditions, instrumental soul, and analogue groove into a loose but remarkably coherent whole. “Ayara” establishes the approach immediately, its cyclical rhythm section leaving room for Ben’s guitar and Gal Costa’s synthesizers to circle, answer, and steadily deepen the groove. “Ahh... Raj!” is more volatile, opening in a haze of wandering country-psych guitar before thick drums, distorted synth lines, and distant vocals pull it toward something heavier and stranger. The spacious “Tavasim” offers the EP’s most inward-looking passage, with gently picked guitar and an unhurried pulse suggesting the slower, dustier edge of instrumental soul. Closing track “Yaris” breaks the calm with blunt synth chords, handclaps, dembow-inflected percussion, and maqam-shaped melodic figures that seem to rearrange the song while it is still moving. That unfinished quality is central to the record’s appeal. Taftir never sound careless, but they do sound open to interruption, accident, and sudden redirection, preserving those moments as evidence of five musicians discovering what the band can become. Raw, fluid, and quietly transportive, Od Layla Ba Ayara is a promising first document from a group already comfortable venturing beyond the map.