Zabala is the stage name of Jon Aguirrezabalaga, a composer and producer based in Bilbao. A member of the now defunct We Are Standard, with whom he released 4 albums and gave more than 500 concerts internationally, he currently combines his work as a composer for film and theatre with his own projects (Zabala, Black Crystals) and production work for other artists.
He studied composition and music production at the Escuela de Música Creativa in Madrid and at El Aula de Música Moderna y Jazz in Barcelona. In 2011 he opened his own studio with Xabier Eguía, El Tigre, located in the Bilbao neighbourhood of Deusto, where he has worked with artists such as Verde Prato, Sara Zozaya, Kokoshca, Gari, Laura Sam and Juan Escribano, Omago, Airu or Reina Republicana among others.
In recent years he has composed the soundtrack for the documentary ‘Cabeza y corazón’ by Zuriñe Goikoetxea and Ainhoa Andraka and short films such as ‘Catfinement’ by Javier Seisdedos and ‘Ur Azpian Lore’ by Aitor Oñederra. In theatre, he composed the music for ‘Ama Kuraia’, a production of the Arriaga Theatre directed by Maria Goiricelaya, a director with whom he also worked on the adaptation of Yerma in 2021, a production of the BBK theatre. In 2022 he composed the music for the street play ‘Senta’, an adaptation of Wagner's Flying Dutchman by the Hortzmuga and Deabru Beltzak companies.
“Martian Civilization OST” (Forbidden Colours, 2020) is the first LP by Zabala, who already released in 2018 the EP ‘Vik’ with the label Mushroom Pillow, with very good reviews and an important repercussion in countries like USA, Mexico or Japan. It was chosen among the best works of the year 2021 in publications such as Mondosonoro, Hipersónica or Clubbingspain among others. In 2022 he released the LP of his new project Black Crystals (Mushroom Pillow) with a sound closer to synthwave and club electronica.
In October 2024 Zabala releases his second album “No Club”, an LP full of sophistication composed of 11 tracks that mix the synthetic with the organic creating dreamlike soundscapes. It exudes a powerful electronic sensibility riddled with experimentation and abstraction that has been complemented with powerful audiovisual pieces that have had the support of international platforms such as Nowness Asia in singles like 'Urtu'.
