Ziemba is the recording name of Brooklyn-based artist René Kladzyk, who has a voice like a clear blue sky. On "With The Fire," from her forthcoming album Hope Is Never, her vocals float above drowsy drum beats and the warm hum of an electric guitar. It's a thoughtful song about memory and loss, and the video has a poignant back story.
"Welcome to this museum of decay, nostalgia, and memorialized childhood," Kladzyk told The FADER over email. "My childhood home in Forestville, Michigan has been uninhabited for twenty years, but is still full of all the artifacts of my youth: the toys, the furniture, even the first piano I ever played. Last summer I went to the house with Corey Tatarczuk, who was armed with a Super 8 camera, and a pile of clothing owned by my grandmother and great-grandmother Ziemba, including the white suit that my gramma was married in (made by great-grandfather Ziemba). In the 'With the Fire' video, we visit these most fond and mythic sites of my youth. [It] is my hopeful ballad of destruction, a love song for ghosts, and a funeral march for the future."
Lo & Behold! will release Ziemba's album Hope Is Never on June 24 (order it here). Kladzyk has also made an incense to accompany the album, so that listeners can "experience the scent of this world." It is made from cedar, lilacs, and lilies of the valley plucked from the overgrown backyard of her childhood home.
Tour dates
06/23 - Las Cruces, NM - Art Obscura
06/24 - Record Release Party; El Paso, TX - Warszawa
06/26 - Austin, TX - Hotel Vegas
06/28 - Nashville, TN - Fond Object
06/29 - Asheville, NC - The Mothlight
06/30 - Atlanta, GA - Mammal Gallery
07/01 - Athens, GA - Ten Pins Tavern
07/02 - Richmond, VA - RSVP
07/03 - Baltimore, MD - The Crown
