Zola Jesus - Conatus

She certainly churns out the studio albums, doesn't she? Despite a breakthrough in only 2009 (I think I have socks that predate this), Zola Jesus is already on her third album and has managed to squeeze out 3 EPs to correspond with them. In the same week that Rihanna's manager has spoken out about the necessity of popstars to release more than one record every 3 years (as some kind of pitiful excuse for her saturation and quite-easy-really guest spots every month), you could be mistaken for thinking we're supposed to have the attention spans of stoned pre-teens. If you are a stoned pre-teen, though, keep reading. There's a Mars bar at the end of this page.

I'm getting sidetracked. So the album. After a minute or so of ethereal whisperings and sighs on 'Swords', 'Avalanche' kicks in with a disjointed beat and dark synthetic backgrounds. Vocally she's at her best here, but there is a concern with how indecipherable her lyrics are. The single 'Vessel' is quite remarkable; drawing upon Massive Attack trip-hop influences with a little touch of Nine Inch Nails-industrialism to just maximise its eccentricities, whilst retaining a fascinatingly sinister rhythm.


Several instrumental additions find their way onto Conatus - indeed she didn't use the latin for effort limply - and the strings behind 'Hikikomori' rejoice with a slight Florence + the Machine romanticism. 'Ixode', which to the best of my Googling knowledge is the latin term for the animal genome of ticks, pulses with minimal itch-inducing, and continues this ambiguous vocal pattern - ultimately excluding the listener more than anything, sadly - but all the while remaining quite majestic in delivery. Background chants and a pointedly poppier instrumental aptly summarise 'Seekir' - indeed it slightly echoes the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Zero from a distance - and there's an increased clarity in her vocals.

There's a slight Patrick Wolf tint about some of the tracks here - none more so than the introduction to 'In Your Nature', with its something's-about-to-happen strings and tribal drums. A further turn to conventional melody is seen in 'Lick The Palm Of The Burning Handshake' with its slow piano tune, but the background remains as bewitching as ever. "It takes you over, again and again" is cried to add to the melodrama. Quite the oddest track, 'Shivers' employs an almost M.I.A. approach to instrumentalism and as such beeps and clashes away like a malfunctioning printer. It's of course held together by the sweeping strings, but feels a little too puncturing to fit in with the rest of the album.

Particularly when followed by the minimal beauty of 'Skin', a slow piano ballad that could quite feasibly be derived from the works of Einaudi or Glass. So I'm quite a big fan of that. She then opts to bow out with a massive synth, 'Collapse' quite lives up to its name: "Oh it hurts!" is howled on a number of occasions. Probably should've warned you that this isn't the most uplifting of records.



Critics have been quick to cite this as a step towards a poppier Zola Jesus, and I guess a few of the unmarketable eccentricities have been ironed out of her, but there's no loss of artistry or quality to mourn; if anything she's continuing to flourish as a songwriter and has produced yet another enigmatic, rich and fascinating record that refuses to bend over and beg for fucks from the radio juggernauts.

Rating: 9/10
Highlights: Skin, Vessel, In Your Nature, Hikikomori, Lick The Palm Of The Burning Handshake, Collapse
Avoid: n/a

Artwork Watch: The dangers of suffocation are rarely forewarned by today's musicians so well done to her for taking the initiative.