ZIEMBA

Somewhere between a chance meeting of folk-rock musician Jerry Yester and a fixation over the concept of death, René Kladzyk of Ziemba found herself covering Jerry Yester and Judy Henske’s 1969 track “Rapture”. With its sights and sounds resonating that of a bygone-era, “Rapture” rises with a heavenly vapor. Its through this holy marriage where Kladzyk finds her expansive vocals against a backdrop of clanging piano keys and muted percussion. Envisioning herself as a personification of death or “Santa Muerte”, “Rapture” plays with the taboo of death igniting mythologies of gender & heroism while finding reverence in eternity. In her deathly words, here’s what Kladzyk had to say about “Rapture”:

There’s a feeling of impossibility that accompanies nihilism. One that says that in order to observe the oppressive sadness of the world, there is no space for hope, mesmeric fantasy, or (that dirty word) reverence. This music video, and the entirety of my recent album, is completely fixated on death and grieving. Its a loving and euphoric attempt at locating hope through eternity, within the endlessness of existence and the constance of decay. It’s an active assault on the nihilistic worldview that pervades pop culture today. And this video expresses those feelings visually— the ecstatic joys of life and the transcendence of form in death. We struggle with the mingling of excitement at the mystery of existence, and the fear that that mystery holds. Most of this video is a depiction of the process of embracing fear; harnessing it and capsizing it within the force of your vitality.And there is a fascination here too with the relationship between femininity, queerness, and violence. In casting myself as the grim reaper, I’m rewriting a power relationship embedded in every fairytale I ever loved. “She will betray you as she sings,” the song warns, and we abandon so-called empirical reality in favor of shadow and ephemera. Linear dichotomies of truth and lie, good and evil, black and white, give way to vibrant shades of scarlet and blue. The finite is replaced by the limitless. Pain and beauty, hope and despair, they’re all jumbled up! This femme Santa Muerte is a new kind of angel for a postmodern world.

Check out the video below:

INTRODUCIN’ #18 - ZIEMBA

Singer Songwriter and artist ZIEMBA creates gorgeous and surreal new worlds with her songs and the visual treatments that she crafts from them. We asked her to share with us her thoughts and feelings about her music and her art and she more than graciously accepted!

01. Hello how are you and what are you up to right now?

Hello!  I’m drinking coffee out of my favorite mug, while dutifully responding to emails. 

02. How did you choose your artist’s name?

Ziemba is my grandmother’s maiden name, and the Polish name for certain type of songbird, similar to a finch.  Growing up, I always though that “Ziemba” sounded mysterious and exotic, and then later it came to represent a connection to my grandmother and ancestors.  

03. What was the name of the first track you ever wrote? When was it and what was it about?

Oh man.  The first song I wrote was called “You’d Rather Not Be Me.”  I wrote it when I was seven.  It was pretty melodramatic.  The chorus went, “You’d rather not be me, you’d rather not see me, I don’t know what got into you darling but you’d rather not be meeee.” … I had a lot of pre-pubescent angst.  

04. Your debut LP’s title is Hope Is Never–how did you come around that title?

Hope is Never is the name of a song on the album that was written while trying to process and prepare for the imminent death of a loved one.  It’s a reflection on the constancy of decay and transformation, a comforting way of assessing the certainty of death.

05.  How would you describe your sound?

“Adult contemporary Mouseketeer” /  "Gidget goes to the cemetery"

06. What city do you hail from and what are some the favourite things in your city?

I hail from a tiny town on Lake Huron in the thumb of Michigan, called Forestville.  It has a population of about 100 people.  When I was a kid it used to have a gas station and a corner store, but those have both since closed.  You can take a tour of this town if you’d like, via my “With the Fire” music video.  

07. What artists and visual artists inspired you do want to make music?

My Dad, my Mom, David Bowie, Vladimir Nabokov, Yvonne Rainer, James Lee Byars, John Cale, Elizabeth Fraser, Stevie Nicks…  this list could go on and on and on.

08.  How was it to shoot the visual treatment for With The Fire in your childhood home? 

It was the fulfillment of a fantasy that I’ve had for most of my life, the documentation of a place that is really powerfully special and emotionally charged.  It was incredibly intense.  

09. Any bands or artists from your area that you are into at the moment you would like to share? Dean Cercone is one of my favorite living artists; his music and visual art continually inspire and amaze me.  He’s also an exceptional human being and a dear friend.  

10. Any sleeping tips for us?