Zola Jesus – “Taiga”
With new album Taiga, Russian born U.S dwelling Zola Jesus (aka Nika Roza Danilova) returns with another intense slab of darkly beautiful soundscapes.
With a career now spanning five full length releases, her emotive songwriting and soaring vocals continue to impress.
“Do you wish you could go back to it all?” is the opening line of the title track and a poignant way to commence our expedition. Over ascending tension Danilova utilises a less is more approach lyrically but does so over an expansive layer of melodies. After building to a dramamtic crescendo we are into lead single ‘Dangerous Days‘, an uptempo slice of eighties beats that is about as close as the album gets to conventional pop.
By placing it contrastingly next to the dark opener we get an early indication of just what an interesting beast we are dealing with. ‘Dust‘ and ‘Go (Blank Sea)’ are ambient palettes for ZJ to soar over, which she does so with spine tingling aplomb.
It is these sonically sparser moments on the record that are the most effective, further evident on the ominous minimal synth drone of ‘Lawless‘. The violin flavoured ‘Ego‘ and the a cappella lead ‘Nails‘ (“set me free pull the nail out with your teeth”) emerge as highlights, albeit ones of a very dark nature.
As much as the instrumentation and song structure on Taiga is of a lofty quality, that captivating voice is the clearcut nucleus from which all else hinges. Possessing a brilliant distinct set of vocal chords and an armoury of stimulating lyrics, Zola Jesus has provided us with another powerful and deep journey.
He can also be found clinging to his youth on a skateboard or wandering aimlessly through the bush.
- The Beards @ The Metro, 2nd July ’16 - July 8, 2016
- Parkway Drive @ Wollongong Uni, 25th June ’16 - July 1, 2016
- Basement @ The Factory, 27th May ’16 - June 3, 2016
