Even if you don’t recognize the name Zakariya Khan, you’ve probably heard music that he’s had a hand in. As a guitarist and a producer, he’s worked with Fruitpunchloverboy, Honeybutter, and last year’s Picked to Click winner, Papa Mbye.
But Khan’s alter ego, Young Dervish, might require some introduction.
“At first, I used that moniker as a fun online name, for my spam accounts, a SoundCloud and a private Instagram,” Khan says. “I never took it too seriously. But that name kept coming back, and I realize it encompasses everything I see for myself artistically.”
On his first solo album as Young Dervish, Fretless Sex, Khan’s guitar work is front and center. And so is his guitar, which, true to the album title, is fretless. And homemade.
Khan started messing around with guitar construction in 2023, first swapping electronics between different guitar bodies. Then he started crafting the bodies themselves.
“There were certain kinds of wood that I was interested in,” he says. “I want to make a guitar that looks like the tree that it came from, where you can see the rings, the grain.”
After completing his handiwork, Khan wasn’t about to rush into things. “I wanted to take some time to get acquainted with the instrument before I was going to give myself the satisfaction of making music with it,” he says. “It’s like getting a new sports car and just speeding down the highway right away. I’m like, I want to get to know this car first instead of just zooming with it.”
Still, there is plenty of “zooming,” so to speak, on Fretless Sex. Khan enjoys the freedom his creation affords him; the fretless instrument allows him to create a slinky, rubbery guitar sound, and he can get flashy without wanking.
Khan's guitar work complements his casually suave vocals, not to mention his purr of a falsetto. And since this guy knows his way around a studio, Fretless Sex has a panoramic sound you can sink right into.
For Khan, this was a relatively simple piece of work. "I was coming out of a lot complicated productions where I'd have a hundred-some different parts that I’d have to corral together," he says. But next he plans to showcase his studio versatility again. "I want to play around more with sound itself," he says.
Every time I interview a musician, I ask what they’re listening to, and I rarely receive a good answer. I get it—when someone asks me the same question, my mind goes blank.
But Khan's got some good recs. He’s currently delving into the gnawa music of Morocco, and well as the Wassoulou music from Mali, especially the great singer Oumou Sangare. You should give her a listen too. After you listen to Fretless Sex, of course.
Explore the entire Picked to Click class of 2025 below.
