It was a great exhale but also kind of the peak of my sickness. This song in particular was like the final sum of the disorder I had to fight through in order to make this record. I had a very strong feeling inside about this song, it felt very sharp and clear but at the same time there was a stutter trying to rise from the mud. This song was written very quickly, almost compulsively. Regarding the song itself, the Russian-American songstress describes it as an ambiguous but necessary outing whereas the accompanying video stems from surreal fantasies.Ĭan you give us some background on the song “Vessel”? Honoring this release, the electro-goth siren unveils the official video to the LP’s lead single “Vessel” through The New York Times.
The following year saw the release of Okovi: Additions, an EP of songs recorded during the Okovi sessions as well as remixes of some of the album's tracks by Johnny Jewel, Katie Gately, Joanne Pollock, and Wolves in the Throne Room.Today, October 4, Zola Jesus’ highly anticipated third album Conatus arrives. Three years later, she returned to Sacred Bones for Okovi, an album named after the Slavic word for "shackles." Its meditations on loss and healing featured contributions from Alex DeGroot, WIFE, Pedestrian Deposit's Shannon Kennedy, and percussionist Ted Byrnes. Named after the Russian word for "forest," she wrote and recorded the album on Washington State's verdant Vashon Island and mixed it in Los Angeles with longtime collaborator Dean Hurley. For her fourth album, 2014's Taiga, Nika moved to Mute Records. These string-based renditions were captured in 2013's Versions. Thirlwell, who provided arrangements for the Mivos Quartet. Toward the end of the Conatus tour, Nika was asked to perform at New York's Guggenheim Museum, an event for which she collaborated with Foetus' J.G. That year, Nika also collaborated with Pocahaunted's Amanda Brown on LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus, an experimental lo-fi EP.Īlong with working with M83 and Prefuse 73, in 2011 Zola Jesus released her third full-length, Conatus, which found her continuing to move away from her lo-fi roots and toward experimental electronic pop. She remained just as busy in 2010, releasing the cleaner-sounding Stridulum and Valusia EPs, which were combined as Stridulum II. Nika also played in the group Former Ghosts, which featured Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart and Freddy Ruppert. In 2009, along with her debut album, The Spoils, Zola Jesus released the Tsar Bomba EP on Troubleman, New Amsterdam on Sacred Bones, and an untitled, limited-edition vinyl album and a split release with Burial Hex on Aurora Borealis. Her first officially released music included a couple of 2008 7"s: the Poor Sons EP on Die Stasi and Soeur Sewer on Sacred Bones.
Inspired by high-school favorites like Diamanda Galás, Lydia Lunch, Throbbing Gristle, and Swans, Nika made cathartic home recordings using keyboards, drum machines, and anything else she had on hand. Anxiety and the competitive nature of opera caused her to stop singing for a couple of years, but missing that form of expression spurred her to begin Zola Jesus. Soon after, she began working with a vocal coach for the next decade. As her work moved from the lo-fi bedroom productions of early works like 2009's The Spoils to the more polished territory of 2014's Taiga and 2017's Okovi, the power of her voice and her blend of electronic, industrial, and classical influences endured.īorn in Phoenix, Arizona and raised in Merrill, Wisconsin, Nika showed an interest in singing early on, buying voice-lesson tapes and opera sheet music at age seven. Zola Jesus is the project of Nika Roza Danilova, who crafts dark yet uplifting music dominated by her operatic vocals and keyboards.
As her work moved from the lo-fi bedroom productions of early works like 2009's The Spoils
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