The recording of Okovi, the fifth album from Zola Jesus, proved to be a fraught affair and the tension and pain leaks through into the finished album. After returning to her native Wisconsin, Nika Roza Danilova (to give her her full name) endured the anguish of having friends attempting suicide and, at times, the album is a sombre (though at times often uplifting) exploration of that trauma. Produced by long-time collaborator Alex deGroot, it shifts to a darker place tonally than on previous albums but also sees a move towards a more straightforward electropop sound. Having previously expressed a desire for a number one hit on Billboard, perhaps this is the manifestation of that.
As with Stridulum II, the album cover to Okovi finds Danilova with her face masked by black oil. This time, however, her eyes are uncovered – a small but vital difference, as the album reveals. As a clue to the darkness that lies within this album, it speaks volumes. With the title taken from the Slavic word for ‘shackles’, and based on the idea that everyone is shackled to something or someone, Zola Jesus explores the things that weigh us down but also how to escape them.
As ‘Doma’ begins, there is a sensation that the listener is emerging from out of water or the darkness. The vocals are low in the mix, until we hear the exaltation to: “please take me home, where I can be one with the same land I’m from”. This moves swiftly into the piercing strings opening of early single ‘Exhumed’, which pushes the sonic envelope into almost industrial electro with its pounding, relentless tribal drumbeats. Gothic chanting and screaming mix urgently with an increasingly twitchy beat, driving ever onwards and upwards into a crescendo of noise. A track that took two years to finish, it sounds all the better for its long gestation, with the disparate influences and sounds colliding with each other in a thrilling way.
As always, Danilova’s voice is exceptional throughout with her opera-trained background easily portraying her emotions, as well as possessing an ability to shake buildings to their very foundations. Lyrics such as: “Take me to the water, let me soak in slaughter” on ‘Soak’ give a dark undertone to a track with a deceptively straightforward pop beat. It’s that marriage between the darkness of content and the lightness of delivery that just about keeps Okovi from teetering over the edge into pure Europop, with ‘Witness’ being a perfect example. Ostensibly about the trauma of trying to keep someone safe from harm, the vocal delivery is comparable with the likes of Katy Perry but its lyrics of knives and deep wounds are not your standard pop fare.
The album only truly takes flight when it takes risks and deviates from the norm, such as on ‘Veka’ which has an unsettling beginning with vocals played backwards over strange effects. Alongside a pounding, chasing beat, it slowly builds towards a planet-sized chorus which dwarfs everything else on the album. However, on the likes of ‘Siphon’ and ‘Remains’, the balance becomes uneasy and harder to maintain. They both have interesting moments but, overall, they stray too far into electropop to really strike home. Much of the second half of Okovi plays it too safe sonically with the shiny production putting too much of a gloss on the dark undercurrent which, in turn, strips it of its power. Bearing in mind the background to the album, and the fact that Nika described the recording process as “cathartic”, it is a miracle that it sounds as upbeat as it does. Suddenly, the meaning behind the album cover becomes clear. There is a darkness, but one that she can see her way through. Whether you prefer the light or dark will entirely dictate your thoughts on this latest step for Zola Jesus.
Jamie MacMillan
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