zakè & Tyresta 'The Worlds We Leave Behind' [CD]

Glass-mastered, silkscreen printed CD housed in a 4-panel, 300g satin cardstock Digipak. Clear cd tray. Numbered. Shrinkwrapped. Pressed and printed in Canada. Edition of 200.

zakè & Tyresta – The Worlds We Leave Behind (Zakè Drone Recordings, 2024)

The Worlds We Leave Behind, the second full-length from the duo of zakè (aka Zach Frizzell) and Tyresta (aka Nick Turner), opens with “Undiscovered”, a heavenly, inviting glide that occupies a full quarter of the album’s run time. It sets the scene perfectly with a bedrock drone beneath a cyclical, ascending melodic theme, until gently shifting into shadows, its third act evoking a half-speed choir singing in rounds. The title hints at all the world’s concealed beauties, sacred in their elusiveness, reminding us to keep searching and remain humble.

In his day-to-day, Turner is a Chicago-based social worker, and his musical efforts serve as a cathartic response to the emotional weight of facing so directly the infinite challenges of life — according to the artist, he “explores themes related to the human condition, including impermanence, grief, and growth.” This drive underlies pieces like “You Will Become a Song”, where a sweetened, reassuring air rises from whorls of shoegaze guitar, accented by a subtle crackle like seeds emerging from dewy soil.

The breathy shimmer and stirring harmonies of Turner’s solo recordings create an ideal foil to zakè’s more melancholy, low end-laden tendencies, as exemplified on “Heavy Skies”. Here, the two flirt with dissonance and grain, conjuring the image of a bird in a windstorm seeking safe harbor, and exhibiting a tonal versatility that seems effortless. Title track, “The Worlds We Leave Behind”, is bathed in panoramic rustle and organic textures, complemented by swathes of guitar dressed in mile-wide reverb. Fitting with the album’s motifs, its evolution occurs in carefully constructed moments of beautiful, meditative patience.

According to Frizzell, these tracks comprise a “spiritual sequel” to the duo’s first album, Drift (2023), whose chillier climes crystallized from looping murmurs of soft melody, well suited to the cover image of a snow-covered canyon. Created in quick succession, but allowed to gestate for a few seasons, The Worlds We Leave Behind occupies a warmer place – in line with the predominantly ruddy, Polaroid sleeve art – conveying the calm of a late summer dusk, and the vanishing of evening into cricketing quiet.

On closing movement, “Departing Day”, the album’s entrancing warp and weft usher in feelings of uncertainty, hope, and grace in equal measure. A lonesome, spacious piano floats across a subdued field of interlaced hums, skirting a theme but content to wander, finally easing into a tantalizingly open-ended, slow fade out.

In Frizzell’s own words, “Sometimes, the profound doesn’t need an explanation – what matters is the connection between creator and listener.” Similarly, Turner’s track titles and inspirations willfully embrace ambiguity, and welcome individual interpretation. Loss and leaving are universal human experiences, but in their thoughtful, intuitive collaboration, zakè and Tyresta provide a gorgeous environment for the complicated processes of introspection and healing


Written, recorded, and produced by zakè and Tyresta
Mixed at Kaleidoscope Tone Studio by zakè
Mastered at Ambient Mountain House by James Bernard
Photography by Benoît Pioulard with Polaroid SX70 film
Design and layout by zakè

© 2024 Zakè Drone Recordings
℗ Past Inside the Present Publishing (BMI)
This is ZD-033-CD