Zombi copped its name from the Italian version of "Dawn of the Dead" and still considers George Romero's film to be one of the biggest inspirations for the band even existing.

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But that doesn't mean the duo's cinematic soundscapes are designed for the parading of zombies. On the latest record, "Surface to Air," there's more a feeling of flying over canyons than shuffling undead through shopping malls.

"Surface to Air," which will share a release party with Don Caballero's record at Garfield Artworks Friday, is the second offering on the national Relapse Records for multi-instrumentalists Steve Moore and A.E. Paterra, who play bass and drums, respectively, while doubling on analog synthesizers. Zombi formed in 2001 as a dreamy getaway for Moore, who was in the noise-rock band The Microwaves, and Paterra, of the vaunted Pittsburgh punk band The 1985.

"We're both sort of closet progressive rock fans and we both enjoy film scores, so we originally started this as a side project," Moore says. "Something to pass the time while we did our other bands. Now, neither of us are in the other bands."

Playing progressive rock with a cinematic bent and scoring a horror soundtrack (for the indie film "Home Sick") has put Zombi in the record bin with Goblin, the Italian group known for its work on Dario Argento films. The one-word monster name doesn't help either.

Moore, however, says, "It's just an easy way to classify or categorize us for people writing about us. It's an easy comparison because they were a progressive rock band that started scoring films, and so are we. There are some similarities, and we are definitely influenced by them. We thought the idea of putting together a band like Goblin that does horror movie music and also does album material was really great, but almost before our first album even came out we were almost drawing our inspirations from the same places Goblin was drawing theirs. There are a lot of moments where Goblin is pretty much blatantly ripping off Genesis, so we figured let's listen to more Genesis."

The early Genesis influence is certainly tangible, as are touches of King Crimson and Tangerine Dream. Zombi is closer to the latter, in that the duo has no use for vocals or conventional pop song constructs.

"I don't really see vocals ever having a role in the band," Moore says. "I would, however, be very open to the idea of adding a choir. I think lyrics would detract from our music, but I think the sound of the human voice would work. I used a lot of virtual mellotron on the new album, so there are lots of choir sounds."

While the majesty of the music -- with its high soaring synths and propulsive, sometimes rubbery rhythm -- makes it fit for an arena, the Acropolis, or some grand architectural space, Zombi has mostly been a club act. It's toured the country, playing showcases like South by Southwest and sharing bills with metal bands from Relapse and even hip-hop groups.

Moore says of Zombi as a performing unit, "I guess we're working on that part. I get a lot of comments from people saying it's fun to watch two people pull off all this music live -- the idea of seeing this massive amount of synths and cords and cables. We had a buddy of ours run projections recently when we played at Gooski's, and we'd like to move more towards that -- adding spectacle to the performance."

Currently, they're working on it from different cities, as an attempted relocation to Chicago lasted for Paterra, but not Moore, who moved back to Pittsburgh in the fall.

When they reconvene in the studio, the duo likes the idea of bouncing from album to soundtrack work. They like having to match music to imagery in film, and then having the freedom to expand their ideas for the albums, which are not, in fact, inspired by zombies.

"We definitely are inspired by dramatic imagery from films -- or dramatic imagery in life, whether it's a beautiful landscape, driving through the desert mountains or some type of epic architecture. Those are the types of things I think of whenever I'm writing."