Arkhon - Zola Jesus: Review
Zola Jesus
is a singer-songwriter whose been around for over a decade now dabbling in genres like goth, chamber and industrial. While she's pivoted between styles throughout her career, her previous album in 2017 represented a critical high point for Zola Jesus creating hype for this album from fans and critics alike.
Review By Lav:
2017's Okovi was my favorite Zola Jesus album to date and while that doesn't guarantee any success on a follow-up, particularly five years later, it was reason enough for me to be at least curious at what she would be doing next. What got me really excited was the singles three of which I really enjoyed and set up my high hopes for this record. While it does have the occasional slip-up for the most part it has all the interesting sonic explorations I was hoping for going into it.
As usual for a record with good singles let's cover those songs first, especially because they're three of the first four tracks. Lost is the standout of the bunch and the opening track, a dark chamber song that still has a catchiness breaking through the heavy demeanor. It's really a great start to the album because it sets up that dynamic of soaring vocals crashing through dense mixes which gets revisited over and over again.
The Fall sets up another recurring instrumental motif, distant but hard-hitting percussion. It also features distant blown out keys that pair perfectly with the soaring vocal melodies. Even though everything is so obscured I would even dare to say this is probably the most inspirational sounding song on the album. The final single Into The Wild grabbed me really quickly with its eerie background noise but it gets even more impactful when it transitions into a hook. Despite the soaring melodies the song is still so unsettling with the droning sounds and metallic percussion surrounding it.
Sewn is a huge highlight that gets off to a slow start but introduces some industrial drums that are one of the most intense pieces of instrumentation on the entire record and they just do not leave the mix alone. Once again the vocals here are a bit buried which actually makes the most dramatic moments sound even more intense. By the end of the song is reaches a point where the instrumentation is just dizzying and completely taken over by a thick droning haze that I adore.
Fault is probably the most purely chamber song on the record which actually sounds like it might have been recorded in the cave from the album cover. I love the way everything in the mix just blasts out into the distance and even though there are lulls it all comes together into an excellent finale. Efemra comes next and it's a glittery almost spacey song with another very confrontational vocal performance. The vocals are given much more space to wrestle with the booming drums than on a lot of other songs here. It's yet another percussion highlight with more catchy refrains that I just think is a great song.
There are also some good if not perfect songs in the first half around the singles. Undertow has some glittery key phrases and catchy refrains but I would never call it bright. Everything is just too obscured that the song feels like it's fighting with itself in a compelling way. I will say the bridge does sort of take the wind out of the second half of the song but it's a mostly minor complaint. Dead & Gone really leans into the grandeur with an arena sized vocal performance and a dramatic swelling string section. While it may not be the most immediately compelling song here it is refreshing to see the record really go big.
The only single I wasn't crazy about was Desire which I actually kind of liked at the time but it turned out to be one of my least favorite songs on the record. It's a piano ballad and one that I just find to be kind of taxing at over 5 minutes. She really takes her time with the song but I don't think it benefits from that tension at all and I think she could have gotten the point across just as well and a lot quicker. While it is further proof that she's a great vocalist the actual song itself doesn't do much for me.
Do That Anymore is also a bit of a deflating finale to the album that I'm not really crazy about mostly because it has more wandering vocal refrains with no real satisfying payoff. I'm also not crazy about the instrumental which is one of the tamest and most straightforward on the entire record. The sentiment of the song is fitting for a finale but the sound doesn't really ever get there.
This record is an instrumentally and thematically grand statement from Zola Jesus and while it dabbles in nihilism and even occasionally her version of heroism, the most impactful element is the willingness to experiment sonically throughout. Whether these songs are heavy and crushing or intimate and crackling there is a coherency to the exciting and refreshing instrumental developments throughout. While I have gripes with the album here and there for the most part it's a quite enjoyable return and an even more interesting new development in Zola Jesus' career. 7.5/10
This cover is a really cool photo but I'm not sure it translates well as a cover. The subject being in the center makes all this great negative space around them but it isn't utilized as well as it could have been. I love the color and how they are camouflaged in the environment. There could be some more pronounced branding in the darker areas of the composition but it is dynamic and very interesting to view. 6.5/10
For more experimental music check out my review of Perfume Genius' Ugly Season here
