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Signed, hand-assembled CD + unique Polaroid photo [2nd ed. | ltd. to 50]
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
-- Second limited edition, with green ink and different insert/obi colors
-- Signed by both artists
-- Housed in a hand-stamped, individually numbered kraft sleeve
-- Includes a unique Polaroid photo by Benoît Pioulard
-- Includes typewritten liner notes and an obi strip
-- Fully hand-assembled by zakè and Benoît Pioulard
-- Limited to 50 copies [30 here / 20 from zakedrone.bandcamp.com]
-- Ships from Brooklyn, USA
Includes unlimited streaming of eve
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
"eve", the first full-length collaboration between zakè and Benoît Pioulard, pays tribute to the kind of supernatural December night where fleeting moments of peace manifest in visible exhalations and crystalline silence.
Comprising three long-form pieces, "eve" arose from more than a decade’s worth of sound fragments, recovered and arranged into harmonic strata. For each chapter, zakè curated and crafted the sonic bedrock, and Pioulard added varying orchestrations of tape-processed guitar, voice, dulcimer, melodica, and synthesizer. The results strike a balance between the idiosyncratic textures of each artist, while conveying a kinship of melancholy beauty.
The title track rises with rich, low-end swells and the subtle scrape of a turntable stylus, suggesting light hail on a metal roof, or the comforting crackle of a fire in the next room. It is pensive and patient in its slow-moving expanse, a cold sun nesting behind gray clouds. “frost” sets in on swirls of Pioulard’s reverent voice, progressing into windswept drones and shimmering bells, which ripple across the stereo field throughout its glacial second half.
Monumental closer, “pine”, evokes the imposing stature and strength of its namesake, and the eerie union of comfort and mystery that occurs in the depths of the forest. Across twenty minutes, a dark, breathy undercurrent is accented by soft-needle dulcimers and reedy whispers, eventually opening to a final few minutes of utter calm. Here we find the edge of the wood, and a windless snowfall settling on an open field.
credits
released December 24, 2023
Recorded and produced by zakè and Benoît Pioulard, late 2023
Mixed at Kaleidoscope Tone Studio by zakè
Mastered at Ambient Mountain House by James Bernard
Cover image by Benoît Pioulard with Polaroid SX70 film
An album for any time of day, as far as I'm concerned -- meticulous treatments and an impressive degree of detail for something that could still be called 'minimal'. Benoît Pioulard
Ulla's knack for combining wildly different textures into something so perfectly cohesive, is a constant wonder. I wish this record were 10 hours long. Benoît Pioulard
Chris is a master of mood, and his solo work is some of my favorite music of the past decade.. drifty and melodic, and always with a healthy analog glow. See also "I Am Humble and Powerful". Benoît Pioulard
As I drift away from the Earth and all its chaos, its gleam reduces to a speck in the vast cosmos surrounding me. I close my eyes and take my solace among the ocean of stars. Christopher Nolan