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PITP78 |
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ARTIST:
zakè & marine eyes ALBUM NAME: Still Beauty CATALOGUE NUMBER: PITP78 RELEASE DATE: 3 June 2026 |
CREDITS:
Written, recorded, produced, and arranged by zakè and marine eyes. Engineered and mastered at Ambient Mountain House by James Bernard. Cover image by Benoît Pioulard on Polaroid SX70 film. Design and layout by zakè. FORMAT:
DISTRIBUTION: Past Inside the Present Bandcamp (US), PITP.US (US), Norman Records (UK), Juno Records (UK), Soundohm (IT/EU), and others. |
about
With Still Beauty, PITP label head zakè (Zach Frizzell) and California-based marine eyes (Cynthia Bernard) present a suite of lovingly constructed pieces that combine organic, tape-saturated drones with angelic, spacious vocals and a host of other textured instrumentation. Building on the hushed promises of their collaborative debut, Unfailing Love (2021), the two artists immerse us in the processes of loss, grief, and renewal, spiriting us through overlapping shadows into newfound light.
“Unfailing Love explored sadness, resilience, and a path toward deeper compassion and empathy,” Frizzell explains, “and while those themes continue here with greater clarity, we also wanted to show that even after hardship, there is a precious, persistent beauty worth holding onto.” Fittingly, the album’s eight movements sit on the precipice of some darkened abyss from which a mysterious, sweetened air arises, balanced between hope and melancholy, at peace with the whims of nature’s immensity.
On opening track, “Frosted Glass”, Frizzell wraps a blanket of etherized drone around rich bass tones and fragments of Bernard’s heavenly incantations. As the piece unfurls, warmly intoned violins melt like candle wax at the edges, and the vocals subtly fray into gentle distortion. “Map of Edges” expands on the duo’s familiar pairing of low-end heaviness and weightless, cirrus trails, adding layers of treated textures and yarn-malleted chimes that placidly anchor the composition in space-time. The overall feeling, though, is infinite and rapturous, a perfect synthesis of Frizzell’s Midwestern, existentialist gravity and Bernard’s daydreaming, coastal drift.
Throughout “Blanketed”, the duo offer an impression of “a veiled spirit luring the listener into a tender embrace,” according to Bernard. True to this aim, there is a movement of the earth below as the seismograph flitters at the corners and a comforting, crystalline mist of upper-register harmony wafts across the landscape. A pale sun emerges from behind pitch-dark clouds on “After It Rained”, glistening off every surface with deliberate and delicate pacing, patient as a seed extending its first root.
The orchestral zones of “Day’s End” and “What Was Home” provide an understated sense of evolution for the duo, as elemental chords shift placidly through meditative landscapes, graced by layers of saintly voices and languid guitar plucks that appear like beacons through swirling fog. “Crossroads” is the eeriest and darkest entry here, yet still carries a current of protective strength, quietly showing the range of emotional contours that Frizzell and Bernard can summon with their sonic sculpture.
The sprawling title track closes Still Beauty with progressive layers of harmonic drone set against Bernard’s breathy, slow-motion mezzo soprano, casting a spell of kindness and care. Each artist has experienced significant trials and traumas in the half-decade since Unfailing Love, but as two individuals who profoundly revere the natural world, they choose to nurture their strength of spirit through the creation of beautiful things. “Zach and I share a wonderful friendship, and when we collaborate, our synergy just naturally locks in,” notes Bernard, “These songs contain a lot of secretly encoded messages to our loved ones, honoring the importance of each day we get to share… We have such an unbreakable bond based on our awareness of that fragility, and this collaboration has been a gift to us both.”
“Unfailing Love explored sadness, resilience, and a path toward deeper compassion and empathy,” Frizzell explains, “and while those themes continue here with greater clarity, we also wanted to show that even after hardship, there is a precious, persistent beauty worth holding onto.” Fittingly, the album’s eight movements sit on the precipice of some darkened abyss from which a mysterious, sweetened air arises, balanced between hope and melancholy, at peace with the whims of nature’s immensity.
On opening track, “Frosted Glass”, Frizzell wraps a blanket of etherized drone around rich bass tones and fragments of Bernard’s heavenly incantations. As the piece unfurls, warmly intoned violins melt like candle wax at the edges, and the vocals subtly fray into gentle distortion. “Map of Edges” expands on the duo’s familiar pairing of low-end heaviness and weightless, cirrus trails, adding layers of treated textures and yarn-malleted chimes that placidly anchor the composition in space-time. The overall feeling, though, is infinite and rapturous, a perfect synthesis of Frizzell’s Midwestern, existentialist gravity and Bernard’s daydreaming, coastal drift.
Throughout “Blanketed”, the duo offer an impression of “a veiled spirit luring the listener into a tender embrace,” according to Bernard. True to this aim, there is a movement of the earth below as the seismograph flitters at the corners and a comforting, crystalline mist of upper-register harmony wafts across the landscape. A pale sun emerges from behind pitch-dark clouds on “After It Rained”, glistening off every surface with deliberate and delicate pacing, patient as a seed extending its first root.
The orchestral zones of “Day’s End” and “What Was Home” provide an understated sense of evolution for the duo, as elemental chords shift placidly through meditative landscapes, graced by layers of saintly voices and languid guitar plucks that appear like beacons through swirling fog. “Crossroads” is the eeriest and darkest entry here, yet still carries a current of protective strength, quietly showing the range of emotional contours that Frizzell and Bernard can summon with their sonic sculpture.
The sprawling title track closes Still Beauty with progressive layers of harmonic drone set against Bernard’s breathy, slow-motion mezzo soprano, casting a spell of kindness and care. Each artist has experienced significant trials and traumas in the half-decade since Unfailing Love, but as two individuals who profoundly revere the natural world, they choose to nurture their strength of spirit through the creation of beautiful things. “Zach and I share a wonderful friendship, and when we collaborate, our synergy just naturally locks in,” notes Bernard, “These songs contain a lot of secretly encoded messages to our loved ones, honoring the importance of each day we get to share… We have such an unbreakable bond based on our awareness of that fragility, and this collaboration has been a gift to us both.”
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