Zola Jesus
Taiga
7 October 2014
Mute
3.5 stars out of 5
Coming just over a year after her last LP (2013’s Versions), Zola Jesus’s fifth LP (well,
fourth if you concede that Stridulum II
wasn’t a proper LP but a compilation), Taiga,
is her first after signing with Mute. It sees the twenty-five-year-old
Wisconsin native Nika Roza Danilova at her farthest point yet from her goth
origins, hurtling into mainstream pop territory in some moments. In others (“Hunger,”
“Go (Blank Sea)”), she stays firmly within the goth pop orbit, though not in a
manner that would be alienating to those unfamiliar with the genre.
Danilova’s compositions are very smooth and controlled. There’s
nothing within her music that comes across as unhinged or improvised. Perhaps
her training as an opera singer is part of the reason. While her voice is
certainly emotive and alive, her vocal performances are kept on a very short
leash. Perhaps this is why her Taiga,
though populated with beautiful creatures like “Long Way Down,” for the most
part does indeed seem frozen and devoid of life. Having grown up in the taiga
myself, I’m used to encountering a variety of furry and feathery beasts when I
walk among the spruce and aspen, but Danilova’s forest is almost empty, save a
few echoes and shadows.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
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