Issue 83 / November 2017

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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. 34
Under Cinema EXHIBITION Under Cinema FACT – 26/10-18/02 FACTs latest exhibition opens this month with typically ambitious scope and intriguing subject matter. UNDER CINEMA is a new solo show from filmmaker, artist and performer Wu Tsang who has worked with FACT and Warp records to put together a series of audio-visual pieces which explore how artistic practices can be positioned to challenge, rather than conform to social norms. The exhibition will include the world premiere of Tsang’s new commission Under Cinema, a site-specific video installation (positioned in FACT’s Gallery 2 – located underneath a cinema venue) featuring American experimental electronic artist KELELA. The film arrives shortly after Kelela dropped her debut album Take Me Apart which was released on Warp in October to much critical praise. It’s a timely collaboration between two artists who push boundaries and meld genres and media to explore new territory. Massachusetts-born, Berlin-based Tsang has forged a glowing reputation in the contemporary art world while exhibiting at museums and film festivals around the world including MoMa (New York), Tate Modern (London) and SXSW (Austin). The trans artist deals with themes of community, culture and sexuality, all of which came to the fore in her breakthrough film Wildness which looked at the mixed fortunes of an LGBTQ club night of the same name in LA as it grew in popularity in 2012. In Under Cinema, innovative film making methodologies investigate themes of voice and representation with Kelela as its subject. Another UK premiere in the exhibition, We Hold Where Study, uses a twochannel projected film and a choreographic approach which continues to provoke a feeling of immersive other-worldliness created by Tsang’s techniques. FACT is the perfect venue for this investigation into cinema’s relationship between documentary, activism and imagination. Make sure you go along to experience innovation and artistry celebrated through cutting-edge techniques. Jane Weaver PERFORMANCE Immix Ensemble Presents: Jane Weaver and Sam Wiehl Lutyens Crypt, Metropolitan Cathedral – 09/11 After releasing one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year so far in Modern Kosmology and off the back of series of phenomenal festival sets over the summer, JANE WEAVER teams up with classical music collective IMMIX ENSEMBLE and visual artist SAM WIEHL for an exclusive performance in the Crypt of the Metropolitan Cathedral. Kosmologie Ancienne will draw on Weaver’s Modern Kosmology, extrapolating on her sublime psych-pop songwriting to form a multidisciplinary adaptation of the album. Signed to acclaimed modern classical label Erased Tapes, Immix Ensemble are no strangers to collaboration, and the piece with Weaver and Wiehl follows work with a longer line of visionary artists in Liverpool, including Bill Ryder-Jones, Ex-Easter Island Head, Stealing Sheep and Luke Abbott. In this instance, Weaver’s songs and use of vintage synthesisers will combine with Immix’s classical instrumentation and Sam Wiehl’s signature groundbreaking live visuals. Wiehl has been working with Weaver throughout this year, providing visuals for her live shows and this reimagining of her album in a live setting presents grounds for further experimentation between the two artists. Housed in Lutyen’s Crypt – a remnant from the original plans to build the world’s largest cathedral designed by inventive architect Edwin Lutyens on the site of the Metropolitan – the Crypt is the perfect nod to a visionary past in which to house this future-oriented performance. Support comes from Immix’s Composer in Residence for 2017, Dialect (Andrew PM Hunt), while lysergic crate-digger Andy Votel will DJ between sets. Tickets are merely £5 a pop so there’s no reason not to miss this postphenomenological treat. As part of Immix Ensemble’s commitment to making new music accessible, there is also a free allocation of tickets to those claiming JSA. To find out more, contact them on info@immixensemble.co.uk. PREVIEWS 35
Page 1 and 2: ISSUE 83 / NOVEMBER 2017 NEW MUSIC
Page 3 and 4: LIVE IN THE MAIN BAR FRIDAY 24 NOVE
Page 5 and 6: WHAT’S ON Liverpool Philharmonic
Page 7 and 8: CONTENTS New Music + Creative Cultu
Page 9 and 10: EDITORIAL Over the past couple of y
Page 11 and 12: DANSETTE Carl Roberts of melanchola
Page 13 and 14: The underground street art movement
Page 15 and 16: From performing pop songs in her li
Page 18 and 19: “Without a doubt, Merseyrail Soun
Page 20 and 21: 20
Page 22 and 23: 22 KINKAJOU POP-UP JAZZ CAFÉ
Page 24 and 25: 24
Page 26 and 27: CELLULOI Liverpool is fabled for it
Page 28 and 29: E V E N T H I G H L I G H T S JOIN
Page 30 and 31: We believe passionately in Liverpoo
Page 32 and 33: SPOTLIGHT DIALECT “A loose conste
Page 36 and 37: PREVIEWS GIG Lucy Rose Stanley Thea
Page 38 and 39: BOOK NOW: 0161 832 1111 MANchestera
Page 40 and 41: AEG PRESENTS & DHP FAMILY, IN COOPE
Page 42 and 43: REVIEWS Träd, Gräs Och Stenar (Ke
Page 44 and 45: REVIEWS Howie Payne (John Johnson /
Page 46 and 47: of it is shared by the front few bo
Page 48 and 49: NOV 2017 - MAR 2018 WINTER GARDEN E
Page 51: THU 26th OCTOBER to TUE 30th NOVEMB
Page 54 and 55: SAY THE FINAL Homotopia takes on th
Page 56: INVISIBLE WIND FACTORY - LIVERPOOL

Issue 83 / November 2017

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