Album Review

Zola Jesus – Night

• 10th Jun 2010

Blimey. From the moment the synthesisers begin their insistent drone, accompanied by horror-style whispering and underscored by regimental marching drums, you know you’re in for something special. Then strident vocals start cutting like a searing knife through the industrial butter and you’re hooked.

Zola Jesus is the creation of young American vocalist Nika Roza Danilova, and Night is the first single from Stridulum II, due out in August, which is the European release of her rather special US EP, augmented by three new tracks.

With an operatic background and an interest in power electronics and industrial music, Danilova says she tries to write songs that are completely novel but also accessible. With Night she succeeds.

It’s a single that marries a lot of contradictions. It’s raw and minimalist, but compromised of layers of complex, well-produced sound. The result is both gently soft and soaringly huge. It is at once romantic and pessimistic, gloomy and hopeful.

The lyrics are also incongruous. They’re pop clichés (“At the end of the night, we’ll be together again” etc), but their use is original. Their familiarity means they echo with associations. They appear simple, even shallow, but in this strange, unnerving context they provoke a deep emotional response.

It’s all a bit weird, and it’s wonderful.

Night slowly burns with intensity, building tension to the point of bursting. Somewhere out in the song-writing ether there’s an anticipated crescendo that never arrives. It’s a pleasing frustration though, and when the moaning synth, relentless drums and Danilova’s resonant voice do stop, you’ll probably find you don’t really want them to.