Zola Jesus – Conatus (Souterrain Transmissions)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
It’s not hard to see why some people find Zola Jesus quite difficult to side with. So many questions remain unanswered. Does she do that Liz Fraser-esque thing of not really pronouncing any words properly because her lyrics are so to the point that they border on embarrassing? Doesn’t Conatus’ minute-long opening gambit ‘Swords’ sound like being stood in a new age shop whilst the cashier girl opens a thousand computer programmes at once? And though Nika Rosa Danilova’s roots might be in opera, heavy metal and industrial noise – you can have a long and involved conversation with this girl about Einsturzende Neubauten – with slightly different production, wouldn’t something like ‘Vessel’ sit just fine on a Florence & The Machine record?
The thing is, ‘Vessel’ is an excellent song, and Conatus as a whole is a fine album from a woman I believe deserves to be cut some slack – if we give Danilova a chance, analyse a little less and dance a little more, we could not only enjoy without shame the music she’s making at present, but hopefully see her soon transform in to one of the most gifted songwriters and producers alternative music has birthed in some time. Of course, she wants us to buy in to the whole aesthetic, hence the once-heard-never-forgotten name, ever elaborate press shots and imposing album covers (sleeves don’t come much more intimidating than that for last year’s Stridulum II). But regardless of whether you’re in to that side of things or not, the music more than stands up on its own.
Conatus isn’t perfect, nor is it the best record she will ever make. Yet it’s a considerable step in the right direction, with the biggest leaps taken being in arrangements and sonic manipulation rather than necessarily songwriting. The bleak midwinter of her production skills is now at its most foreboding, and it’s especially intriguing to see how her attitude to percussion – something of an afterthought on previous releases – has changed radically. These frantic pulses and handclaps (rarely any cymbals – good girl, they’re truly horrid) add with startling effect to the desolation of everything. It’s clear that she believes the essence of good gothic rock is best delivered by synths, not guitars. In fact, I can’t make out one guitar on Conatus. Being ultimately pro-synth is a conclusion on which everyone from The Cure to Erasure have settled at times, and indeed ‘Seekir’ is a track of which I suspect the latter would rightly be rather proud.
There are one or two moments of filler where the impressiveness of the production alone is left to carry the song – ‘Ixode’ for example just takes far too long to get going, and when it does, never journeys anywhere particularly worth the ride. The general criticism to be levelled at Conatus’ less gripping moments is that the songwriting isn’t quite there yet, not consistently anyway. But for a good two thirds of the LP, you’re in the presence of some big, big songs – if the new Florence album does have a trio of tunes as good as the aforementioned ‘Vessels’, ‘Avalanche’ and standout number ‘In Your Nature’, I may just cross my fingers that she’s been listening to a load of Einsturzende Neubaten and pick myself up a copy after all.
Tuneful though those songs are, I can’t say it’s not all doom and gloom – it really is. But Conatus is the sound of someone continuing to explore bleakness in a wide-eyed rather than introspective fashion, taking time to point out the delicacies of individual snowflakes in the ensuing blizzard whilst also willing to be totally overcome by it. And if you find the pretentiousness of that sentence appealing rather than repulsive, I reckon I might have found the record for you.
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Artists in this article: Zola Jesus
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