ZIEMBA to Release New Album THE BRAID, Shares Single "The Pleasure Seekers"
The self-released full-length features contributions from musicians who have worked with Angel Olsen and Weyes Blood.
ZIEMBA, the project of singer-songwriter and producer René Kladzyk, has announced a new album titled THE BRAID, marking her first full-length release in nearly six years. Alongside the announcement, Kladzyk shared the album's first single, 'The Pleasure Seekers,' which draws on a real conversation Kladzyk had with a stranger at a bar in Montana about a mushroom-induced vision of bad angels traveling to earth on a pleasure cruise. Kladzyk said she was drawn to the idea while grappling with her own patterns of escapism and excess. THE BRAID is set for release as a digital title and limited LP through self-release.
Photo credit: Jen Dessinger
Genres
art rock, indie, new wave, sophisti-pop, baroque pop
RIYL
Joanna Newsom, Kate Bush, Weyes Blood, Wendy Eisenberg, Spellling, Angel Olsen, Jackie Evans, Annie Lennox, Prefab Sprout
Release Details
Format: Digital / Limited LP
Label: Self-released
Full-length street date: Oct 2, 2026
'The Pleasure Seekers' is both true story and allegory: a 'not-wise-man' at a bar in Montana really did tell Ziemba's René Kladzyk the lessons he learned during a mushroom trip about bad angels on a pleasure cruise to earth, and she latched onto the idea. 'At that time, I was struggling with my own tendency toward escapism, excess and addiction,' Kladzyk said. 'The fantasy that, maybe this is what I was brought here to do, maybe all my excesses have a celestial justification – it held a real allure for me, delusional as it was.' The song is a fitting introduction to a record that carefully maps the boundaries between hope and fantasy, escape and home, aiming for somewhere between transcendence and acceptance.
Buzzing with ferocious intensity, 'The Pleasure Seekers' is the sonic version of sprinting through the pouring rain with utter abandon, tits out. 'Running like a faucet, full blast.' Production marries 'Sandanista!'-era The Clash, 'White Chalk'-era PJ Harvey, and ABBA-esque choral pop. It just gets bigger and bigger. This song is horny for LIFE and all its marrow, while every so often catching glimpses of what it is we're running from, chasing rapture. 'Would that I could be recklessly lost,' Kladzyk sings before launching into the song's anthemic catharsis. 'FEEL EVERYTHING,' a chorus of Kladzyk's entreat. Thunderclaps of drums hit as bad angels shoot playful lightning bolts down to earth, taunting us mortals; a guitar solo harkens Chariots of Fire, 'EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING' as a dare, a prayer, a manifesto that maybe Kladzyk will come to regret.
THE BRAID features contributions from musicians including Andrew Macguire, who has performed with Angel Deradoorian, Van Dyke Parks and Cassandra Jenkins; Don Godwin, known for work with Bartees Strange and Beauty Pill; Will Segerstrom of Mega Bog; Marta Honer, who has credits with Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar; and Ben Babbitt, who has worked with Angel Olsen and Weyes Blood.
Photo Credit: Jen Dessinger
