Zimbru are a tight-knit four piece of best friends playing a wild mix of raspy synthesizers, angular guitar riffs and lively percussion all topped off by stories of dancing, lost pets, queer love and nostalgia for never experienced past decades. Most easily described as art-rock, the band comes from Cluj-Napoca, Romania & is composed of Teodora Retegan, Paul Bucovesan, Andrei Bobiș and Oana Pop.
Early 2019 marked the band’s stage debut and first release – a live recording of Dog Heaven performed at the Cirkular studio. (listen here: https://smarturl.it/DogHeaven) In their article, 7 Rising Artists From Romania That You Need In Your Life, Gigwise describe Dog Heaven: “stylish, moody vocals, thought-provoking analog synth riffs, otherworldly textures and analog and electronic drums on this combine to an intoxicating whole.”
This release was closely followed by the band’s first ever single release – Divination – the first track off their debut EP. (listen here: https://smarturl.it/DivinationSingle) Divination has enjoyed remarkable success – it entered heavy rotation on national radio, it quickly amassed tens of thousands of plays across streaming platforms and received great critical reception. Mystic Sons wrote: “Romanian outfit bring the same otherworldly sound as Anna Calvi to their newest electro pop swoon.”. The track was released alongside an absurdist, surrealist video directed by up & coming director Irina Alexiu. (watch here: https://smarturl.it/DivinationVideo)
The summer months following the release of Divination saw the band playing all of Romania’s major music festivals, to great acclaim. British magazine NME wrote before Zimbru’s show at Electric Castle, one of their biggest shows of the summer: “Mixing skittering electronic beats with powerful vocals and glittering production, this lot’s hometown show is well worth catching.”
The band released their debut EP on November 8th via Cirkular. This record shares the same name with their second single, Little Creatures. (while also nodding to one of the band’s big influences, The Talking Heads) The EP consists of four tracks – Divination, Little Creatures, Terejo and Dyo. (listen here: https://smarturl.it/LittleCreaturesEP) The band started to get more international attention after their debut EP release. In a feature article, Europavox praised the band’s charming debut: “Labeled as a breath of fresh air in the Eastern-European space, one cannot help but fall in love with Zimbru again and again.”.
2020 put a halt on things – the band postponed all shows with the exception of their online performance for WAVES VIENNA (watch here: https://smarturl.it/ZimbruLiveAtWaves), where they debuted a new double single, The Ground / Slow Disco, released just a few weeks before the festival, at the end of August. Throughout 2021 the band worked on new music, new videos & for a short time, made a long awaited return to the stage for the summer festivals.
The band’s latest single – topaz – was released in May 2022, alongside a costume-heavy video inspired by horror B movies & 80’s camp cinema. (watch & listen here: https://smarturl.it/TopazSingle) This was followed by a very
successful international concert program throughout the summer & fall, playing shows across 10 countries at festivals & events such as The Great Escape, EXIT, MENT Ljubljana & Sziget to name just a few. Another breakthrough for Zimbru was being crowned winners of the 2022 HEMI Music Awards after performing at 7 out of the 9 partner events. (more information on HEMI Music Awards can be found here: https://hemimusichub.com/2022/11/25/hemi-music-awards-2022-winners-announced-at-pin-music-conferenc e/)
2023 started with a double show at Eurosonic, followed by the band’s first European tour in support of their newest release – Mass Cisteria, the first single from the upcoming five song EP. (listen here: https://lnk.to/MassCisteria)
