American ambient masters zakè (a.k.a. Zach Frizzell) and City of Dawn (a.k.a. Damien Duque) return with a mesmerizing follow up to last year's "Agape". The music the two create together reflects the expansive landscapes of their native Texas and Indiana. Slowly unfolding melodies that seem to rise like the sun from a Texas horizon, and drones that resonate like leaves in an endless Indiana woodland. It's a sound that's both beautiful and slightly haunting – a sound that encompasses the listener and demands attention. This is music to get lost in.
Zach and Damien can both be considered veterans of ambient drone by now, and the five composition on Ash present a rarefied ”complex simplicity”. With few means they manage to create sonic and compositional depth, on par with classics of the genre from the likes of William Basinski, Brian Eno and Stars of the Lid.
The CD version of ”Ash” includes the previous album ”Agape”, which hasn't been previously released on CD.
released August 11, 2023
Written, recorded and produced by zakè & City of Dawn
Bass guitar on 'They Know Not' by James Bernard
Vocals on 'They Know Not' by marine eyes
Recorded and mixed at Kaleidoscope Tone Studio by zakè
Mastered at Ambient Mountain House by James Bernard
Expired polaroid film photography by zakè
Layout and artwork by Jakob Skøtt
©℗ 2023 Azure Vista Records, VISTA014
Marketed and phonographic copyright:
Azure Vista Records
Barcode: 5063176005618
Barcode (Text): 5 063176 00561 8
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azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com
zakedronerecordings.com
cityofdawn.bandcamp.com
ambientmountainhouse.com
◾️◾️◾️ REVIEWS
“Ash is a blissed out excursion into purest drone abandon, with all the soothing harmonic tones your restless mind could ever wish for. The ambient maestros made their debut on Danish label Azure Vista Records in 2021 with their highly acclaimed long-player ‘Agape’. The pair return with another extended sojourn into the infinite horizon of their home turf. Squarely focused on slow release drone with a melancholic lilt, Ash is music of patience which revels in the subtlest of harmonic, tonal and textural shifts. The title track of the album forms a natural centrifugal point around which the other laconic pieces unfurl, resulting in the kind of pristine, placid record you’ll reach for whenever you need the surest of pure meditations.”
-Juno Records
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"There’s a kind of musical alchemy when Zach Frizzell (zakè) and Damien Duque (City Of Dawn) come together. I first heard these two back in 2020 as Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea(along with Marc Ertel.) Their Azure Vista Records debut Liberamente was a breath of fresh air; blankets of sonic warmth and sublime tones that to my ears felt like an evolution in sound. Stepping into the New Age of melody and composition through tonal manipulation and hazy production, Liberamente was eye and ear opening musical transcendence to buzzing hearts and minds that were open to it.
Following the near perfect debut on Azure Vista titled, Agape, Frizzell & Duque return to the Azure Vista Records fold with the equally engaging and transcendent Ash. Over the course of five meditative, lush tracks these two masters of the ambient/drone realm offer up a musical journey in lush production and hazy significance.
Lead single and title track “Ash” is the doorway into the record. A slow-moving elegance permeates the track; a sonic study in musical contemplation built in layers of tonal melancholy and what could either be static, rain, or circuital noise just under the surface. Fans of William Basinski, Brian Eno, and Stars of the Lid will find much to love here.
This is the genius of zakè and City of Dawn, their ability to build these majestic tonal universes though sound manipulation. It’s the sound of a buzzing mind slowing to a steady, single thought.
Besides “Ash” and the light-filled “Lo”, Ash is bookended with three gorgeous and epic tracks. We open on the 10 1/2 minute “Quiet Spirit” which encapsulates all the Frizzell and Duque have honed and built over the last few years. Subtle shifts in tone fill the listener with a kind of effervescent optimism; a sonic cathedral for meditative bliss as electronics turn from synthetic to organic before our eyes and ears.
Likewise “Invocation” stuns in its 12 minute time frame, painting a technicolor vision of space and time coalescing in a kind of cosmic dance. Crackling static underlays the grand aural experience zakè and City of Dawn have built here for us. A galaxy seemingly dripping from a turntable needle.
“They Know Not” closes out this aural experience in dusty orchestral tones and blooming circuital beauty. A sanguine ending for us to savor, long after the last note wavers.
Ash is yet another stunning album from the team of zakè and City of Dawn, two modern pioneers of the ambient/drone scene. By now these two have built a discography of stunning grace and sparse, simple beauty. There’s not much more to say, other than drop the needle and get lost in all they have to offer. A music journey worth taking over and over again."
-Complex Distractions
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"I think the collaborative project by Zach Frizzell (zakè) and Damien Duque (City Of Dawn) first saw the light of day back in 2020 when these two ambient artists got together to release Wander on Frizzell’s own Zakè Drone Recordings. The duo have also released music as Frizzell & Duque, appearing on these pages numerous times in the last few years, including the addition of Ossa, for the album I picked as one of the best of the year.
Last year, Jonas Munk, aka Manual, picked up Agape for his Azure Vista Records, and I have subsequently highlighted the album in my Music For Bending Light And Stopping Time for Best of 2022. All of these opening words, with a brief journey through history, are only here to demonstrate how excited I am about their follow-up release on Azure (co-distributed by Frizzell’s Past Inside The Present imprint for the US friends and followers).
The title track, “Ash”, which I am premiering for you today, is a perfect example of the unhurried, unfurling, and unpretentious ambience that blankets the senses when you need these sounds most. “Their focus offers up the steady ebb and flow of sound, cultivating a profound sense of meditative stasis and explorations of high-fidelity sound.” This is the type of slow-evolving minimal music that you want to turn all the way up in volume so that each frequency permeates, saturates, and eradicates all the wrinkles and spikes in your jittery mind. Lovely textures on this one, folks, carefully picked out by the mastering touch of James Bernard at his Ambient Mountain House.
The full album, also titled Ash, is set to be released on August 11th, available as a digital release and a 160g transparent ochre-coloured vinyl. The 2xCD version also includes Agape, which wasn’t previously released on CD. I think the two are the perfect companions for each other, especially when played back-to-back."
-Headphone Commute, Mike Lazarev :: hcdi.gs/ash
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