Songs of the year, Number 2: Zola Jesus - Lost

In composing her sixth album as Zola Jesus, Nika Danilova did something she hadn't done before: She chose to work with collaborators, specifically from the ranks of Sun O))), Cloud Nothings and Perfume Genius. Apparently inspired by Danilova's increasingly socialist political views, and her desire for a more collectivist, collaborative society, this decision to collaborate musically has had a dramatic sonic impact on the album. The overall sound is more experimental and varied but it's still unmistakably a Zola Jesus record. 

'Lost' is an eerie, unsettlingly, echoing song that makes use of glitchy sampled breathing alongside the traditional dark synths and Danilova's hugely powerful, operatically trained voice. A brutal description of burnout, it's been suggested that the song relates to her distrust of the increased role of big tech within the music industry. 

"Everyone I know is lost" she sings, "Flare gone missing, turning dark" 

That the song feels so hopeful has a lot to do with the power of Danilova's vocal and the anthemic feel of the song. It's a real lament for a lost generation, as well as - presumably - a nod to any artist who's ever been leaned on to become their own social media manager alongside touring, performing and recording. 

In darkness there can also be strength, not to mention inspiration. 

Zola Jesus - Desire (Official Music Video)

This beautifully stark piece is taken from the new Zola Jesus album, Arkhon. In a marked departure from her previous albums, Nika Danilova has collaborated in the creation of Arkhon and the sound seems at once both lighter and more textured as a result. Interesting times.

Zola Jesus - Exhumed (Live from SOUNDWAVE)

*STROBE WARNING*

A suitably atmospheric and commanding performance by Zola Jesus, live from SOUNDWAVE. You can also watch the full Zola Jesus set from Pitchfork Music Festival, 2018, here.

Fantasy Festival number 7: The lineup

Becca Mancari: Understated US folk musician Becca Mancari has just released her second album, The Greatest Part. She's also a member of the supergroup Bermuda Triangle. You can find out more about Becca here.

Lauran Hibberd: Isle of Wight 'slacker pop' star Lauran Hibberd should have been in the middle of a summer of gigs right now but, even though that's on hold, she continues to get radio support, particularly across the BBC. Good things are expected, and rightly so. You can access her Soundcloud here.

Gazel: London based composer, songwriter and producer Gazel Algan draws on her Turkish roots to create mesmerising soundscapes fuelled by dance music and traditional instrumentation. Gazel's Book Of Souls was one of the most underrated albums of 2019. You can find out more about Gazel here.

Zola Jesus: Nika Roza Danilova, aka Zola Jesus, has been creating brooding, sometimes bleak, industrial soundscapes since 2009. Most recent album Okovi was a hard but necessary listen, and probably her strongest release yet. You can find out more about Zola Jesus here.

Jehnny Beth: Former Savages front woman, now rising solo star, Jehnny Beth was one of the stars of the 6Music festival just prior to the UK lockdown. Her solo album, To Love Is to Live, is out now. You can find out more here.

Sleater-Kinney: After more than twenty years (and, it's got to be said, partly due to that ten year hiatus in the middle...) Sleater-Kinney are finally being appreciated for what they always were: A thumping great rock band. You can find out more here.

Anna Calvi: Four albums in to her career (this years Hunted being a re-working of last years critically acclaimed and Mercury nominated Hunter), Anna Calvi has most definitely arrived. With a commanding stage presence, voice and excellent guitar skills, she is a woman more than ready to be given a festival headline slot. You can find out more here.

Zola Jesus - Exhumed (Official Music Video)

Gothic Friday!

Nika Danilova on magnificent form with this opening salvo from last years excellent album Okovi.

Zola Jesus -LIVE- "Vessel" @Berlin March 10, 2015

This is Zola Jesus performing the brooding and sepulchral 'Vessel' live in Berlin in 2015. You can watch her full performance on KEXP in 2015 online. 

Fantasy Festival #7: The Fiercely Futuristic Festival - Lineup

Noga Erez: Noga Erez is a 27 year old new artist from Tel Aviv. She makes sometimes playful, sometimes dark, always danceable to electro pop in the inventive and glitchy vein. Erez has been compared to both MIA and FKA Twigs and her debut album, Off The Radar, is out now. She will be touring the UK in October and will also be playing the Pitchfork Avant Garde Festival in Paris at the end of October.  

Natasha Kmeto: Natasha Kmeto is a producer and vocalist who composes electronic music in Portland, Oregan. Often epic in her emotional scope, she creates shimmering dance music and pared down brooding electro soul. She will be appearing at Le Guess Who? in Utrecht in November. 

Honeyblood: Honeyblood are a guitar rock duo from Glasgow who create frantically catchy songs that seem destined to be teenage anthems. They released their second album, Babes Never Die, back in May, but are not currently touring.

Courtney Barnett: Courtney Barnett is a singer/songwriter from Melbourne. Her 2015 album Sometimes I sit and think, and sometimes I just sit, included the indie fave 'No one really cares if you don't go to the party', and continued to excite critics and music lovers already inspired by the laid back quirky guitar rock of the single 'History Eraser'. She will be touring the US in the autumn. 

Zola Jesus: Zola Jesus is the stage name of Nika Roza Danilova, an industrial/electronic artist from Madison, Wisconsin. Trained as an opera singer, she was inspired to create her own music by artists such as Throbbing Gristle, Dead Kennedys and Diamonda Galas. She has released five albums, and her sixth album, Okovi, will be released in September. She is currently touring the US and Canada, but will be touring Europe, including the UK, in October and November.

Sleater-Kinney: Corin Tucker. Carrie Brownstein. Janet Weiss. Sleater-Kinney formed in the mid 1990s in Olympia, Washington, became the standard bearers for the later waves of Riot Grrrl, and then went on to became a very good, very credible rock band. After eleven years of writing, recording and touring, they went on a ten year hiatus before returning with the critically acclaimed and fan adored No Cities To Love album in 2015. Their live album, Live in Paris was released in January. They will be playing the Music Tastes Good Festival in Long Beach, California, in September. 

Grimes: Grimes is a Canadian producer, composer, singer and engineer of astonishing and ethereal electronic music. She grew up in Vancouver and her second album, Visions (2012), and third album, Art Angels (2015), were both critically acclaimed. She is not currently touring.

Beth Ditto: Arkansas singer Beth Ditto, formerly of electro punk band Gossip, is now a solo act. Her bluesy, punk rock Etta James voice has been heard recently on the anthemic and brooding southern rock blues single 'Fire', and her debut solo album, Fake Sugar, is out now. She is touring Europe, including the UK, throughout September and October. 

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue #7

Fake Poinsettia

We open today with the rather lovely 'Crimson and Clover' by Tommy James and the Shondells. Tommy James and the Shondells, while being a particularly classy sixties outfit, also crop up regularly on 'Sunshine pop' compilations of the era. And a bit of sunshine pop is exactly what we need this side of Christmas I think.

Earlier this year I heard a fascinating BBC radio documentary about Cambodian music, Pol Pot and the Killing Fields. While incredibly harrowing, it also brought alive to me a real sense of what the Cambodian music scene was like in the years before the Khmer Rouge. Dengue Fever pay homage to that heritage and I've liked them for a couple of years now without fully understanding their heritage and context.

It's a case of two for the price of one with todays 'borrowed' track. For here is the epic Milky Wimpshake cover of Daniel Johnson's 'True Love Will Find You In The End', which the band incorporated in with their take on Jonathan Richman's 'Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste'.

I watched them do it live at least twice, and it was brilliant. I was so pleased when they released it as the B side to 'Dialling Tone'.

Our final track is not so much blue as icy blue. This is the commanding and sepulchral 'Vessel' by Zola Jesus, in which Nika Danilova really gives voice to something eerily beautiful.

Image of Fake Poinsettia by Cazz Blase, copyright Cazz Blase, all rights reserved.