Last year, Zola Jesus released two absolutely bewitching EPs, Stridulum and Valusia, both of which moved away from the scraping noise of her origins to a dark, swirling synthpop that made amazing use of Nika Roza Danilova’s operatic howl. Those EPs pointed toward great things, and now Zola has finally given us Conatus, the album that delivers on their promise. We’ve already posted the early tracks “Vessel,” “Avalanche,” and “Seekir,” and now the entire album, which sounds heavy as fuck on first listen, is streaming at The Guardian, where you can also read Danilova’s track-by-track breakdown of it. The album-closing “Collapse” is just a monster.
Conatus is out 10/4 on Sacred Bones. You might want to read our Progress Report interview with Danilova about the album.
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There’s really nothing she can do wrong and Conatus as you said, delivers. Here’s hoping people know Nika Danilova’s name as much as they do Florence Welch or Adele.
Zola Jesus is easily my favourite current singer / musician so I may be a little biased. I approached this album with the voracious appetite of a hundred hungry lions and I was thrilled to discover that it completely satiated me. I plan on buying this and listening to it over and over. The latter half of the album is especially powerful and carries great weight. It’s hard to pick a favourite track, but the leading candidates for me so far are “In Your Nature” and “Collapse.” What a unique talent!
She was my favourite rising artist last year and now she makes me happy releasing such a great album. Hopefully her being on a M83 track will get her more noticed. And if I must add “In Your Nature” is by far the album’s jam.
“Vessel” is without a doubt my favorite track off the new album. Read our “Zola Jesus ‘Conatus’ Review”