zake

US-based composer and sound artist Zach Frizzell is the creative force behind the zakè project. Known for his warm drones and analog textures, his work spans dozens of solo and collaborative releases, moving fluidly across a wide spectrum of atmosphere and tone.

Frizzell’s music draws from a foundation in classical training while embracing experimentation, forming environments shaped by sweeping melancholic swells and slowly evolving textures. His approach to ambient composition is both meditative and dynamic, glimmering with artifacts yet grounded in a quiet, gravitational stillness. Often regarded as a pioneer of slow evolving minimal drone, he works with archaic synthesizers, field recordings, and tape processes to craft solemn, drifting sounds for contemplative listening.

For Frizzell, music serves as a means of processing lived experience. Each release functions as a marker of time, a philosophy reflected in Past Inside the Present, the label he founded in 2018.

Despite the deeply personal nature of his work and the introspective qualities of deep listening music, Frizzell remains a thoughtful and community-minded curator, collaborating with and supporting a global network of artists.

In addition to his own imprints, Past Inside the Present and Zakè Drone Recordings, Frizzell has partnered with a range of respected labels including Azure Vista, Affin LTD, quiet details, Home Normal, Polar Seas, Dunk!Records, and others. UK-based Sonic Cathedral is also home to Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea, his collaborative trio with Marc Ertel and Damien Duque.

Frizzell’s work has been featured across a broad range of publications and platforms, including Electronic Sound Magazine, Pitchfork, BBC Sounds, All Music, Prog Magazine, Soho Radio, BBC Radio 6, The Quietus, Sun 13, First Floor, Discipline Mag, All Things Loud, A Closer Listen, Moonbuilding, No Place Like Drone, Optimistic Underground, Quiet Space, Headphone Commute, Complex Distractions, Igloo Magazine, Ambient Music Guide, Ambient Zone, and others.

“Over the past decade under the zakè moniker, Indianapolis experimentalist Zach Frizzell has been responsible for some of the most delicately produced ambient compositions. His production rivals some of the finest work in the genre today.” — Sun 13 (UK)