Zakè
Demain Des L'Aube
Barely a week seems to go by without us hearing from zake, the US ambient producer who is hugely prolific and also unwaveringly creative with each new project. For this latest in a long line of many essential albums on his own Past Inside The Present label he links with From Overseas for the sublime sounds of Demain Des L'aube. This is a 160-gram audiophile vinyl version that sinks you deep into his widescreen and sweeping crepuscular synth work. It is delicate and spare but hugely impactful and…
A Pale Shelter
100 copies limited edition "A Pale Shelter is the kind of record that stops you dead in your tracks without actually really doing very much to create a sonic blockade. It ebbs and flows, glides and meanders through constant refrains, slowly pulling you deeper into thickly textured, minimal waves of ambient, chimes twinkling somewhere in a distant background, echoes of melody creating centerpieces to the arrangements. It's a classic example of what makes Past Inside the Present's output so mesmer…
Remembrance
*100 copies limited edition* Remembrance follows a similar formula found on zakè’s previous effort, Geneva (released on Past Inside the Present, 2020). He produced eight short phonic motifs and then invited artists to collaborate, rework, and expand upon the source material resulting in a new, unique creation.The album consists of eight short vignettes by zakè, six collaborative pieces, and eight completely reworked tracks. The track titles and overall theme of these works are based off the gorg…
Pinehaven
*200 copies limited edition* Pioneers of slow-evolving minimal drone, zakè & City of Dawn transform unadorned inputs into beautiful complexity in their latest effort, 'Pinehaven'. The drone duo is known for their carefully crafted textures, avoiding sudden shifts or abrasive sonorities. Their focus, as heard in previous efforts, offer up the steady ebb and flow of sound, cultivating a profound sense of meditative stasis and explorations of high-fidelity sound. Seven expressive ambient soundscape…
Frizzell & Duque: A Sorrow Unrequited
*300 copies limited edition* “It's not just a clever name. Zake and City of Dawn have come up with a record that genuinely sounds like the reflective moods that so often follow great loss, realised on record. Sweeping synth-strings on 'We Once Believed We Owned The Sky' only serving to reiterate the sense of lamentation that seems to pervade every corner of this album. Sometimes looking back on what was but will never be again is the only real way of making ourselves feel better - by connecting …
Frizzell & Duque: Orison
*200 copies limited edition* Orison is the latest aural exploration between zakè & City of Dawn and a predecessor to their previous orchestral effort, 'A Sorrow Unrequited'. Orison is a prayer or plea to a deity. The archaic origins of the term stem from the Latin language simply meaning to ‘speak to God’. Patient and solemn symphonic drifts that foster stillness, boundless thought, introspection, and eternal contemplation.
To Those Who Dwelt In A Land Of Deep Darkness
*100 copies limited edition* “‘To Those Who Dwelt in a Land of Deep Darkness’ is centered around a 40-minute piece that loops a gentle, layered melodic phrase ad infinitum, with only subtle alterations along the way. It was created as a kind of healing balm for people who have experienced deep loss, and I think therein lies its emotional power. To me it feels like the sun gently breaking through clouds as you start to move on and learn to live with grief. More active addendums distills the essen…
Sound Space Variations
“Sound Space Variations" is a delicate and restrained sound bath. A mix of atmospheric, suspenseful drone sounds and meditative aspects. It is an album made for those moments when we just are. zakè has managed to capture the moments that lie between sounds. I am sure you know those unagitated murmurs and atmospheric hisses. The artist connects this in-between-world and our earthly one with calm and sonorous scores, making us think about everything and nothing. The six pieces on the record do not…
Module
"Esteemed ambient auteurs, zakè and ossa's collaborative output continues to soothe and delight in equal measure. After Syntheticopia in August 2022 and the dark long-player 'A Pale Shelter' in 2021 between zakè, ossa, and City of Dawn comes Module, a collaboration that includes seasoned electronic producer Ruben A. Tamayo, under the alias FAX. The power trio brings forth an eight-track excursion into heavy ambient atmospheres with moody soundscapes and a real weight of melancholy. As always, th…
Stay With Me
"Given the amount of collaborations he undertakes, Past Inside The Present boss Zakè is not so much musically sociable as utterly gregarious. He's also one to choose a good theme with which to imbue his musical productions with definable atmospherics. This collaborative effort with T.R. Jordan has water at its heart, with field recordings captured on the coast of Lake Erie - which straddles the US/Canadian border - fed into the mixes, giving them a distinctive psycho-geography. Spread over four …
Syntheticopia
Space is the place - at least, it's the place uppermost in the mind of midwest US label Past Inside The Present owner Zakè and his sonic partner Ossa - location given as the north pole according to his Twitter - as they embark on collaborative 10 tracks. The fact that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA to you and me - has supplied them with celestial sound emissions for the tracks is a bonus. But ultimately, the real headline factor once it's actually on your turntable is t…
Stasis Sounds For Long-Distance Space Travel II
** Edition of 213 ** 36 and Zake follow up the epic work of Stasis Sounds For Long Distance Space Travel Part 1 with another eighteen chapters "of aural anesthetics" which "continue their journey through the outer reaches of space in hypersleep." The album comes in different coloured versions and this yellow copy boasts the sort of grainy and immersive ambient that immediately takes you out into the farthest reaches of space. It's widescreen and cinematic and makes for the sort of journeying alb…