The new album from Ziemba is such a genre-defying effort that a listener's sort of stunned. Alternately pop, alt-pop, and post-rock, True Romantic, out tomorrow via Sister Polygon Records, is also a lush, supremely listenable record. Still, those going into to this with some familiarity with D.C. musical history might be in for a surprise.
René Kladzyk is Ziemba and she has a voice equally suited to smooth New Wave approximations, and covers of classics ("Brazil"). "True Romantic" is cut from the same cloth as many Martha Davis numbers with The Motels, sleek and emotional at the same time, while "Harbor Me" is more propulsive. If "Bad Love" echoes the kind of thing everyone from Lana Del Rey and Jenny Lewis have attempted as of late, "You Feel Like Paradise" is far better. This one builds gradually until it bursts forth with genuine emotional sweep. It's a throwback gem, one which owes as much to the singers of the Sixties as it does to anyone operating these days.
Packed with big names from the D.C. scene and beyond (Don Godwin of Gauche, Too Free, and Clear Channel; Mark Cisneros from Des Demonas, Hammered Hulls, The Make-Up, and Kid Congo Powers & the Pink Monkey Birds, and Jeff Tobias from Sunwatchers and Modern Nature, among others), it might be tempting for a listener to get lost in the technical perfection of this record. It's a sleek release, and one where the smooth surfaces are not ironic embraces of past forms. Ziemba is reclaiming these styles as ones which still have currency in 2020, and for that reason, and because her voice is so affecting, True Romantic is very highly recommended for fans of both pop and alt-pop.
True Romantic is out tomorrow via Sister Polygon Records.
More details on Ziemba via the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Kathryn Vetter Miller]