Zems

Confidential
We kindly ask that this Electronic Press Kit not be shared publicly.

The debut album from guitarist
and composer Rhys John Stubbs.
To be released 6th March 2026
by Bigfoot Engineering Ltd.

1. 1944

My grandad fled Latvia in 1944. He was thirty four years old, the same age as me when I composed this piece. He left everyone and everything behind amid terror and confusion. He eventually made it to England as a refugee of war and started a family of his own. Forty seven years later, when the Soviet Union collapsed, he was finally able to return home. Miraculously, he was reunited with his little sister.

2. paldies Par Kompaniju

I used to spend every summer in Latvia. It was like a timewarp, but in the most wonderful way. The Soviet Union had certanly left its scars during its presence, but it had also left something remarkable in its absence. The most often used phrase I heard was ‘paldies par kompaniju’; when you've lived in isolation for so long, cut off from the world, it's little wonder that your motto will become "thank you for the company".

3. Lidojums

In 2018 I had an accident which left me with a severed nerve and tendon in my fretting thumb. I was desperate to get back to writing music, but it was thirteen months before I could even hold a guitar again. Three a half years later I finished this piece, and it felt like my hand had finally taken flight (lidojums in Latvian).

4. Lacplesis

After my accident I stopped listening to guitar music. I lost my vibrato, a guitarist’s trademark, and I also lost my ability to bend strings or strum chords. It became too confronting for me to hear, so I started listening to piano instead. I fell in love with music from the Romantic period which straddles the tightrope between intimacy and grandeur. It really opened up a new world of possibilities and inspiration for my guitar playing. Lāčplēsis (Bear Slayer) is the eponymous hero from an old Latvian poem. The story is filled with all the drama, passion and fragility of the music I was newly immersed in.

5. Pasaka

The inspiration to make this album came in 2024. At the Birmingham Guitar Show I played an instrument built by Irish luthier Jacob Menear. It was a monstrous acoustic baritone, tuned down halfway between a guitar and a bass. As I began playing this piece, Pasaka (Fairytale), I heard it reimagined with all the power and sensitivity of my newfound musical heroes. I started to formulate a plan to re-record a collection of my compositions tuned down low (zems in Latvian). Eighteen months later, I finally plucked up the courage to ask Jake if I could borrow the guitar to make this record. One week later, it arrived at my door.