Zola Jesus

The project of Nika Roza Danilova, Zola Jesus melds the grandiose with the meticulously detailed on songs that sound as appropriate for concert halls as they do goth clubs. Over the course of the 2010s and early 2020s, she has carved out an ornately designed niche, with songs that combine her keen sense of the human condition and her daring musical outlook. Born in Phoenix in 1989, Danilova grew up in rural Wisconsin and released her first music under the Zola Jesus name in 2008. In the early 2010s, she fine-tuned her sound, adding live instrumentation into the mix on 2011’s Conatus and taking an askance look at what “pop music” can entail on 2014’s Taiga. In the years that followed, Danilova’s vocal prowess became even more impressive; its vast range and mighty power made it the focal point of 2017’s darkly hued Okovi and 2022’s Arkhon, while the larger-than-life themes and dramatic instrumentation gave those releases even more heft and depth.