Agape by zakè and City of Dawn

On Agape, pioneers of slow-evolving minimal drone, zakè (a.k.a. Zach Frizzell) and City of Dawn (a.k.a. Damien Duque) transform unadorned inputs into beautiful complexity. The drone duo, based in Texas and Indiana respectively, is known for their carefully crafted textures, avoiding sudden shifts or abrasive sororities. Their focus offer up the steady ebb and flow of sound, cultivating a profound sense of meditative stasis and explorations of high-fidelity sound.

These six extended pieces are organic and minimalist in nature, but has an ethereal, mirage-like quality to them. Somber, yet incredibly uplifting. Agape is the kind of ambient record that refuses to be reduced to mere background music – the harmonic foundation and the details of the soundscapes are too compelling for that. Frizzell and Duque manage to expand rather simple sonic ingredients into weightless ambient perfection.

Tracklist

1.	Wanderlust	8:22

2.	Once Forgotten	3:57

3.	Karpholite	3:37

4.	Posit	7:10

5.	Agape Suite	14:53

6.	Epode	7:50

Credits

released January 28, 2022

Written, recorded and produced by zakè and City of Dawn
Mixed at Kaleidoscope Tone Studio by zakè
Mastered at Schwebung Mastering (Germany) by Stephan Mathieu
Artwork and design by Jakob Skøtt
Photography by Jonas Munk

© 2021 Azure Vista Records, Denmark
This is VISTA012LP
azurevistarecords.bandcamp.com

Reviews ▪️▪️

"zakè and City of Dawn return to their longstanding collaboration for a new album, 'Agape', delivering a slow-droning album that bucks the trend of ambient's original purpose as background music. The Texas-Indiana duo steadily eases into great time-dilated deluges of sound, slowing everything down, yet not giving into pure depth, spanning both high and low frequencies. A natural theme is unearthed across the six pieces, producing a sublime soundscape reminiscent of Steve Roach, Bvdub or GAS meeting the thematic motifs of Shelley or Wordsworth"

-Juno Records, UK

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zakè and City of Dawn continue the sound explorations they began with 'Liberamente' as Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea, but seem to have honed in on the essence of truly great ambient: simplicity. Agape finds the perfect balance of melody and musical escapism. A glorious release of calm, reflection, and introspection.

Agape is not background music. It’s sound that asks for your full attention. The best ambient works pull you in and surround you in their meticulously-crafted sonics. Frizzell and Duque, a duo that pull both Midwestern (Indiana) and Southwestern (Texas) roots encapsulate their home states perfectly in the work. Vast, wide open spaces collide with earnest emotional connections through circuital wizardry. Flat lands interspersed with moments of hilly beauty rise from the slow drifts of melody and swelling electronics.

Something like the beautiful opener “Wanderlust” encapsulates zakè and City of Dawn’s “sound”, as it were. Cavernous melodies that seem to rise like the sun from a Texas horizon; or shards of light breaking through the dense tree cover of a Brown County fall morning. It’s an all-encompassing sound, and one you can happily get lost in. “Karpholite” feels like staring into space, clusters of stars morphing into themselves. It’s the kind of sound that brings up big ideas and introspection.

“Agape Suite” is 15 minutes of pure sonic bliss. It brings zakè and City of Dawn’s sound into one, epic song. Shimmering notes melt into one another, emanating like ethereal light that beckons you in. There’s a warmth to the song; a welcoming sonic tome that gives the listener a pocket of existential bliss to heal in. It’s a stunning sound achievement.

zakè and City of Dawn’s Agape is yet another masterful slice of ambient/new age to get lost in. Gorgeously curated and expertly engineered new age for a world that desperately needs some peace of mind and spirit.

-Complex Distractions, US

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