Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Zalta introduces the next phase of his creative journey with There Will Be Pain, the first glimpse of a new album due in 2026. Known for building hazy, peaceful sonic environments around solid melodie, Zalta turns inward, documenting the extremes of creation and the difficult process of returning from the edge.
Autobiographical at its core, There Will Be Pain explores the intersection of beauty and suffering across life, love and art. Written after years spent pushing his work to its furthest limits alongside a former creative partner, the track captures an epiphany; the moment Zalta understood how he could move forward as a performer without abandoning what the experience had produced.
The recording expands his intimate songwriting through guest vocals from Mimi Pretend, an expressive string and horn section, and drums by Bambara’s Blaze Bateh.
Reflective and forward-looking, There Will Be Pain presents artistic survival not as a straightforward rebirth, but as the acceptance that beauty and damage can often emerge from the same place.
ZR