If you haven’t heard of Zola Jesus before, now is definitely the time. She is Nika Roza Danilova, of the hauntingly beautiful voice, achingly cool collaborations and killer stage presence. Recording and making music before she was even 16, this is her third full-length studio album (with incredible EPs peppered in between), out now for your auditory pleasure. She has made huge strides since her first release in 2009, progressing from experimental electronica, to sensational operatic themes, intermingled with an impressive array of anthemic pop. Zola Jesus is synonymous with gothic-pop, her continually dark and shadowy music creating glamorous doomsday settings, which is so very original, and you can tell it stems from some deep desire to understand and live an almost Dostoyevskian philosophy.
You can tell this is no show-pony type act. She lives through her art. It has grown and developed as much as she has, incorporating modern and classical literature, philosophy and art into the ever evolving web of electronic music. Intelligent music, at it’s best. Even the album title, Conatus, is Latin, and philosophically defined as “the tendency of all things to persist in their own being”. How can you not be blown away? And it’s not some put-on, wank-fest either, this girl reads, studies, and lives this way.
Conatus is undeniably very, very different to her previous works. Which is understandable, considering the slightly more, let’s say, polished production style with this record. From the get-go, you can tell this is going to be an elaborate, highly layered record, which is varied in style, but stays true to her original sound. First of all, let’s just put across that this isn’t easy listening. It’s not something you put on at a party (unless it’s some candle-lit, forest soiree, which would be awesome), or over dinner, it’s moody and vulnerable. Just saying.
The opener “Swords”, is as Zola Jesus as it gets, with the booming drums and hazy vocals, it moves right onto “Avalanache”, which could have almost been a part of the Stridulum EP, a little bit reworked maybe, a bit pop, a little less goth, you can tell there has been some serious strides in production (without being over-produced though). “Vessel” is a bit of a surprise, with elements that are almost ’90s, and her enigmatic vocals take center stage, absolutely soaring, and like she says ‘it surrounds me’. “Hikikomori” starts a little confusingly, it’s bordering a a euro-dance track with strings. Weird? Of course it is, but it’s one of the lighter tracks on the album, something you’d give a precarious first-timer, along with the follower, “Ixode”. It continues along in that vein until “Lick the Palm of the Burning Handshake” which appears to be the token ballad of the album, a real testament to her strong, strong voice. Jump past “Shivers” (a jumpy pop number) straight to “Skin”, which is stunning, incredibly heartfelt and probably the most unexpected. It all concludes perfectly with “Collapse”, which is synth-heavy and a very fitting end for what definitely deserves a mention in all those ‘album of the year’ lists.
Nika has made great strides with this album, evolving in that way that most young artists evolve, but continually adding originality to the realm of electronic music.
– Zahra Khamissa
