zakè (扎克) - 扎克 (2019)

“The debut self-titled 扎克 comes in a limited edition of only one hundred tapes. These four tracks are separated into vignettes, running about forty minutes and contain evocative drone work, from the faint abyss to luminous, jettisoning abandon. Radiance purrs of low-fi tranquility that skims the thin layered surface, with a warm base. Night Shineth as the Day collects some outdoor field recordings, bird sing sweetly paired with a sinewy mid-tonal synth alternating between a lackadaisical afternoon and hazy daydreaming.

Kasita comes rather quietly, and a bit more ventilation running through it, more sublimated than the previous. The lows are somewhat distorted with a bit of transitional onomatopoeia as it navigates onward. If this were the results of an exculpatory mission, this would be the last leg home, with its last few minutes vanishing into silence. That is a lot of breathing room for the closer, Minaret. The silence is quite piercing, but doesn’t last all that long as from this perspective the field widens subliminally slowly, steady and eventually takes over akin to a wall of sound. As this singular work runs for twenty minutes, the first seven or eight climb to a radiant peak of layered drone and pitch, exposed harmony and some casual strumming, keeping that momentum for a good 5-6 minutes. It’s a rush of fresh open air cadences, just overlapping in the most organic way, fading out smoothly over the final moments.”