Issue 83 / November 2017

PREVIEWS
“In the end it’s not
about breaking
through shackles…
it’s more just about
finding peace with
what reality is”
GIG
ZOLA JESUS
Liverpool Music Week Closing Party
@ Invisible Wind Factory – 04/11
Shafts of brilliant white light
pierce the dancing shadows
of ZOLA JESUS’ noir pop
compositions, landing on
moments where redemption and
catharsis take centre stage in the
Wisconsin-born artist’s bruising
compositions. Georgia Turnbull
speaks to her about the imagery of
Jesus’ latest album, Okovi.
Toting a sound that straddles pop, goth, classical and
industrial, ZOLA JESUS’ noir pop eclecticism is the
perfect accompaniment to the darkening autumn nights.
Born Nika Roza Danilova in Wisconsin to parents of
Russian, Slovenian and Ukrainian descent, this prolific singersongwriter
and record producer has been a truly intriguing and
widely-praised act within the alternative scene, creating this
dark yet melodic world of her own. Her career began in her home
state of Wisconsin in 2009, with her debut LP The Spoils, which
was released on the highly regarded label Sacred Bones, before
going on to work with the likes of M83, touring with Fever Ray
and the XX, and landing a place in NME 2011’s Ones To Watch
list. Even though later albums such as Taiga, which was released
on Mute Records in 2014, and Conatus, which was released on
Sacred Bones in 2011, showed a more melodic pop side to Zola’s
work, every album since The Spoils has always held a magic,
Gothic atmosphere. Her voice and style of work, comparable to
Siouxsie Sioux and Lydia Lunch, still retains a truly unique value
and becomes unforgettable to any listener, even after almost a
decade of creating music.
Her latest release, Okovi – a Slavic word for ‘shackles’ –
sees Danilova return to her hometown in Wisconsin where she
says she “built a little house just steps away from where my
dilapidated childhood tree fort is slowly recombining with the
earth,” which became a retreat after dealing with depression and
dark times. Even if you aren’t aware of the story between this
record and its predecessor, as soon as you hear Okovi you can
feel the rush of catharsis in its haunting melancholia. It feels like a
true snapshot of the darker side of the human condition; and how
one can come out of such a stark feeling of misery and trauma
feeling stronger.
Released once again on longtime label Sacred Bones and
produced by Alex DeGroot – whom Danilova describes as “the
closest group of people I’ll ever have to a blood-bound family”
– Okovi represents a return to the heavier, avant-garde sound
of her debut LP, exploring sonically that feeling of loss and
sadness unlike many contemporary artists have to date, but
still brings through this empowering message of the light at the
end of the tunnel. As Danilova states about Okovi, the album
has a “sympathy for the chains that keep us all grounded to the
unforgiving laws of nature.” Georgia Turnbull investigates further
into this still mysterious album, chatting to Danilova about the
emotional release within Okovi, going back home and further
discussing her feelings during writing and recording, the visual
imagery and the choice of the word ‘okovi’.
You said recently about how you went back to Wisconsin
where you were raised, and how the album came from a dark
and traumatic place. Dealing with such dark matters, what did
you want the end product of Okovi to evoke within the listener,
and within yourself during recording?
I didn’t really think about that too much when I was making it, but
I knew I wanted it to feel like a journey and to go through all the
different shades of what I was going through in the past couple
of years, coming out of it stronger. It was important that I left the
record on that note, which I think I do.
You also mentioned the title meaning ‘shackles’: was the task of
recording liberating from your perspective, like shackles being
broken, or the opposite?
A little bit of both. I think in the end it’s not about breaking
through shackles, it’s more [about] understanding that we have
shackles and that we’re chained to something and to find peace
with those chains, not to feel like they need to leave because
there are so many aspects of life, circumstances that can’t be
changed. So, it’s more just about finding peace with what reality
is. That’s something I definitely had to go through during writing
and recording this record.
The artwork within your back catalogue has felt like a literal
snapshot of you during that period of time, Okovi’s being
particularly dark, menacing and like a death mask. Was this
intentional? Tell us more about that artwork and visual process
While making the record, I was finding a lot of inspiration through
visual art and there was one artist in particular I was really
inspired by called Jesse Draxler. I was lucky enough to meet him
and we bonded. We’re from the same state of Wisconsin so we
formed a connection, and I asked him to do the album artwork, to
which he agreed. It feels so perfect because I feel so inspired by
his work. We tried a bunch of different options, but this particular
piece that he made really resonated with me because it felt like
the chaos, the external chaos happening around me but also with
only the eyes visible. It felt like this thread to the core; the eyes
acted like a human anchor in that complete and utter mania and
chaos that was growing around me, so it felt very representative
and expressionistic of the album.
You’re playing Liverpool Music Week this year, sharing a lineup
with such a variety of artists, from Chic to emerging artists.
What are your thoughts on that?
I’m looking forward to returning to Liverpool, I haven’t played
there in a long time. I enjoy sharing bills and that spirit with a
wide variety of acts – it’s nice because so many musicians have
common ground in different ways, such as you need to work a
little harder and organically. It may not be as obvious what we all
share, but we can share so much.
Words: Georgia Turnbull / @jurrjurrturnbull
Photography: Jesse Draxler
zolajesus.com
Okovi is out now on Sacred Bones Records. Zola Jesus plays
the Liverpool Music Week Closing Party on 4th November.
For full details on the extensive Closing Party line-up, head to
liverpoomusicweek.com.
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