Birthed during the Covid pandemic, Bekka Ma’iingan (Bay-ka Mo-Een-Gan) is the sophomore release from Canadian based Zoon. The album is an intricately enigmatic piece of artistic brilliance that cohesively blends shoegaze and dreampop for a creatively ambient release.

Zoon is the intricate musical work of Daniel Monkman. Bekka Ma’iingan translates directly from Ojibway to ‘slow down’ and ‘wolf’. The two words aren’t meant to be directly linked but considering the past few years, Zoon has enjoyed slowing down within the space of creating this new album.

Bekka Ma’iingan opens with “All Around You” which feels more like a four plus minute intro. However, it is intricately and beautifully executed within the confines of its instrumental soundscape. While there may be no lyrical elements on the track the composition utilizes every bit of space it has available. “All Around You” fades out and right in to “Brave New World (Without You)” which keeps the soundscape aesthetic with some light lyrical elements mixed within. It is much shorter in nature but still manages to embody a very full sound as it builds up to its culmination. “Care” shifts gears and brings in some distortion and very basic drums. This mixed with the earthy vocal delivery shifts things from soundscape to pure melancholic shoegaze goodness before shifting back to ambience midway.

“Dodem” keeps with the shoegaze sound only with much less distortion. Again, the earthy vocals are what really stands out on the track. It is a light and dreamy track that utilizes some additional instrumentation, most notably some strings, to give it more robust layered sound. “Niizh Manidoowig (2 Spirit)” emerges from the fade out of “Dodem” and carries more of the ambient soundscape aesthetic but does manage to incorporate some woodwinds and possibly even brass instruments for good measure. While it feels like more of an interlude it manages to bridge the rest of the album together right in the middle. “Awesiinh (A-Way-See)” follows and features a more dreamy vocal essence that strays from the more shoegaze sound a bit, but does keep some of the elements woven within in addition to more strings in the compositional background.

“Manitou” carries more of an acoustic natured vibe, but the addition of a more prominent female vocal on the track gives it more of a depth that is vocally missing on other tracks. Not that any of those tracks suffer for it, but it just really adds to this track and makes it stand out amidst the brilliance of the rest of the album. “A Language Disappears” follows and has a distinctively present bass tone that drives the track with a simplistic yet deeper approach amidst the more airy vocals creating a solid contrast of sorts. “Gaagige” swings back in to the more shoegaze sound heard early on the album with some distortion and the aforementioned earthy vocal delivery. “Ashes In A Vase” closes out the album and manages to take the ambient soundscape aesthetic and then layer it with some of the more airy vocals we’ve encountered thus far. From the soundscape perspective it is a solid companion to “All Around You” with the two tracks serving as cohesive bookends for the album.

Overall, Bekka Ma’iingan is an enigmatic piece of artistic craftsmanship as it is equal parts experimental and equal parts soundscape. The intricate composition pushes boundaries and puts the album at a level of brilliance that could almost be considered a masterpiece.

Bekka Ma’iingan is out now via Paper Bag Records and available on all major streaming and digital platforms or in physical format via the Paper Bag Records webstore.

You can connect with Zoon on social media via Facebook and Instagram.