eMusic Review 0
Nika Roza Danilova’s voice seems biologically-engineered to convey longing. There are different strains of longing, of course: there’s romantic longing, hopeful longing, confident longing and even longing that’s laced with the faint tang of panic. It’s that last one Danilova’s is best at: in live performances, she has a tendency to stomp forcefully from one end of the stage to the other, over and over — a pint-sized Lady Macbeth frantically trying to self-exorcise. Even when it’s unclear what she’s singing, the way she sings it is enough to generate shivers.
Appropriately, Danilova’s voice — which occasionally seems to imagine Siouxsie Sioux in a High School production of Evita — has always been the centerpiece of the songs she records as Zola Jesus. In the past, it was beamed through layers of static, like a lighthouse struggling to puncture dense fog. While it often made for arresting listening — on “Dog” from The Spoils, it sounded as if she were singing while being smothered — her past full-lengths often felt like they were more about texture than composition. But on Conatus, as suggested by the two spectacular EPs Danilova released last year, the songs at last have fully crystallized around her.… read more »
