Yuvi Havkin aka Rejoicer returns with an exceptional collaborative album, California Space Craft. On
this aptly titled record, he joins forces with seasoned LA bass polymath Sam Wilkes — known for his
inspired studio work with Sam Gendel and his dynamic live performances alongside Louis Cole and
KNOWER — and drummer Tamir Barzilay, completing the LA-connected trifecta alongside a select
handful of key featured guests.

The idea for California Space Craft was born out of a series of inspired live sessions in Los Angeles
between 2019 and 2022, notably at Listen to Music Outside in the Daylight Under a Tree, where the
trio’s natural chemistry first began to bloom.
The resulting recordings encompass a wide variety of inspired sound stylings, as one would expect from
any of these accomplished artists on their own; however, the sum is truly greater than the parts here,
with the fluidity of their freeform improvisations over a dedicated three-day recording session feeling
remarkably focused as a cohesive whole.
Opening track “Traveling Light” sets the LP’s tone with equal parts Sly & Robbie-style, space echo–
drenched rhythms and the cozy kosmische, guitar-led feel of early-2000s genre-fluid explorers like
Tortoise. As we continue on to “Ritual in G#,” we are reminded that this is indeed a unique and timeless
sonic space the trio has created, as Havkin’s crisp Rhodes chords anchor an ever-evolving psychedelic
sound bed.

The soaring trumpet of Avishai Cohen adorns the Afrobeat-indebted “Lion Water,” with Barzilay laying
down a proper Allen-esque groove, while “Further (with you),” featuring Nitai Hershkovits on keys, offers
a defining look at the titular concept of the album — with pure Cali feels coalescing effortlessly into sciNew Release Information
fi narrative modes and a proper dose of Rejoicer futurism. Elsewhere, “Her Hair in the Air” shines with
fresh polyrhythmic intention, illustrating the balanced bond between the three collaborators at their
conversational peak, and the brisk synth strokes of “Early Porpoises,” alongside LP closer “Oceanic
Friends” — again ideally named — double as a grand, in-stereo ride into the blissful Pacific sunset
horizon.

California Space Craft embodies the power of open, collective intention and musical kinship, offering
memorable, uplifting moments and an aural glimpse of hope, warmth, and loving melodious calm in an
otherwise quite chaotic time for humanity.[info sheet from distr.]