Zola Jesus

The origins of neo-Goth indie performer Zola Jesus are a bit mysterious: She claimed she was born Nika Roza Danilova and is of Russian heritage; other accounts said she was originally Nicole Hummel from Phoenix, AZ. She was drawn to performing at an early age, taking lessons from an operatic vocal coach at age 7; however, anxiety attacks before performances put an end to her career as a child opera star. Later in her teens she turned to home recording, taking her name from Jesus Christ and the writer Emile Zola. Her first single, "Poor Sons," was recorded at home with primitive synths and electronic drums; its haunting sound bore out her admiration of Lydia Lunch and Diamanda Galas. Both songs appeared on her debut album, The Spoils, which she released while majoring in business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During 2009 she also joined Former Ghosts, a loose-knit supergroup led by composer Freddy Ruppert. The dark and dramatic approach of her early singles was maintained on the following year's Stridulum EP, the first to get significant critical acclaim. In May 2012 she gave a performance at New York's Guggenheim Museum, at which her songs were arranged for string quartet by J.G. Thirlwell (mastermind of avant-synth band Foetus). This led to a further collaboration as Thirlwell produced the album Versions, with newly arranged versions of previously released Zola Jesus tracks. Her next album, 2014's Taiga, was her debut for the Mute label; it proved more pop-friendly than before, and prompted comparisons to Bjork and Kate Bush. However, the expected pop breakthrough never materialized, though she did hit the lower reaches of the Billboard charts as a guest singer on the M83 album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming. She returned to darker territory for the 2017 followup, Okovi. Inspired by the personal struggles of two friends and her own battles with depression, the album was recorded back in her old Wisconsin stomping ground.