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Nika Roza Danilova (born Nicole Rose Hummel; April 11, 1989), known professionally by her stage name Zola Jesus, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her music has been noted for combining elements of
electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...
, industrial, classical, and goth. Born in
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
, she spent her formative years in northern
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, where she began writing and recording music independently while attending college. During her second year of studies, she released two singles through the independent label Sacred Bones, followed by two EPs. Her debut album, '' The Spoils'', was released in 2009. After graduating from the
University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
, she released her second full-length record, '' Stridulum II'' (2010), followed by ''
Conatus In the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, conatus (; :wikt:conatus; Latin for "effort; endeavor; impulse, inclination, tendency; undertaking; striving") is an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself. This "thing" may b ...
'' (2011). Her fourth album, ''
Taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruc ...
'' (2014), released by Mute Records, marked a departure from her previous releases, and featured a more prominent pop-influenced sound. Her fifth studio album, ''
Okovi ''Okovi'' ( en, Shackles) is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Zola Jesus. It was released on September 8, 2017 by Sacred Bones Records. The album was written in Danilova's hometown in Wisconsin, where she retreated after dealing ...
'', was released in 2017.


Biography


1989–2008: Early life and career beginnings

Nicole Rose Hummel was born April 11, 1989, in
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
, where she spent her early years. Her parents are first-generation Americans, with combinations of
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
as well as German, Slovenian, and Ukrainian descent. Her grandparents immigrated to the United States from Odessa, Ukraine, and settled in
North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
. Honoring her ancestry, she formally goes by her Slavic name, Nika Roza Danilova. She has one older brother. During her childhood, she and her family relocated to Merrill, Wisconsin, where they lived on a rural property situated in of forest. "I resented my parents for having moved me away from Phoenix because I thought Phoenix was much more interesting than Wisconsin," she said. "It's a great place and it's very interesting there, beautiful." She attended Wausau West High School, and after, enrolled at the
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscon ...
to study business. She began recording music at home while still in college, using keyboards, drum machines and other instruments. Her performing name, Zola Jesus, is a compound derived from the French writer
Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...
, and the
Christian messiah Christ, used by Christians as both a name and a title, unambiguously refers to Jesus. It is also used as a title, in the reciprocal use "Christ Jesus", meaning "the Messiah Jesus", and independently as "the Christ". The Pauline epistles, the e ...
. While studying at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she debuted the singles "Poor Sons" on Die Stasi and "Soeur Sewer", released in 2008 by Sacred Bones Records, after which she transferred to the
University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
. In 2009, while still in college, she recorded her debut full-length '' The Spoils'', released by Sacred Bones in July 2009. In 2010, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a double major in French and philosophy.


2009–2012: ''Stridulum II'' and ''Conatus''

Then followed ''Tsar Bomba'' EP (on Troubleman), ''New Amsterdam'' compilation on Sacred Bones and an untitled, limited-edition vinyl split with Burial Hex (Aurora Borealis). For touring she recruited Dead Luke (synths), bassist Lindsay Mikkola and drummer Max Elliott. Later the line-up changed to Shane Verwey and Nick Turco (synth), Alex DeGroot, and Nick Johnson, a drummer with metal band Jex Thoth. Zola Jesus has also played with
Former Ghosts Former Ghosts is a project of Freddy Ruppert, former member of This Song Is a Mess But So Am I, with loose collaborations from multiple people including Xiu Xiu frontman Jamie Stewart (singer), Jamie Stewart, Zola Jesus originator Nika Roza Danilo ...
. On Fever Ray's 2010 European tour, she performed as a support act and also toured with
The xx The xx are an English indie rock band from Wandsworth, London, formed in 2005. The band consists of Romy Madley Croft (guitar, vocals), Oliver Sim (bass guitar, vocals), Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx (beats, MPC, record production), a ...
. In the late 2009 collaboration between Zola Jesus and Rory Kane took shape (as Nika+Rory), a demo being put out on MySpace. In March 2010, Zola Jesus released the ''Stridulum'' EP, named after the 1979 horror film of the same name by director Giulio Paradisi. After the release Zola Jesus performed at the SXSW Festival, for her second time. The same year, she issued a second EP, ''Valusia'', also released on Sacred Bones. In July 2010, a collaborative third EP ''LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus'', was released. A collaboration with Amanda Brown of Pocahaunted, this EP presented "a dingy, lower-than-lo-fi sound and very little of what one would call traditional songwriting," according to Larry Fitzmaurice of ''Pitchfork''. Danilova followed these three EPs with her second full-length album, '' Stridulum II'', which was released in August 2010, one month after ''LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus''. This album marked her feature full-length release in the United Kingdom, combining all six songs from the ''Stridulum'' EP (in a different sequence), along with three of the four tracks on the ''Valusia'' EP; the cover artwork is a slightly altered version of the artwork from the ''Stridulum'' EP. Laura Snapes of ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' praised the album as a "gorgeously ethereal soundscape of a thousand years of heartbreak unleashed into one might howl." Additionally, ''NME'' ranked it the seventh-best album of the year. In 2011, Danilova began composing her third full-length studio album, ''
Conatus In the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, conatus (; :wikt:conatus; Latin for "effort; endeavor; impulse, inclination, tendency; undertaking; striving") is an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself. This "thing" may b ...
'', which she co-produced with Brian Foote of
Jackie-O Motherfucker Jackie-O Motherfucker is an American experimental music group that formed in Portland, Oregon in 1994. Biography Jackie-O Motherfucker began as a duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist Tom Greenwood and saxophonist Nester Bucket. The group is ...
and Cloudland Canyon. The album, released in September 2011 and named for the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word for "moving forward," featured less electronic components than Danilova's previous records, and included cello, double bass, violin, and viola. "I just wanted to try out new ways to produce and different ways to write," Danilova commented. "And with this new record it's a lot more stripped down and there are way more acoustic elements as opposed to no acoustic elements ... I just wanted more breathing room, so people could insert their own experiences into the song, their own feelings into the song, as opposed to me forcing it on them with the densest sound possible." Additionally, Danilova provided guest vocals on the song "Intro" by M83 from their 2011 album ''
Hurry Up, We're Dreaming ''Hurry Up, We're Dreaming'' (stylised as ) is the sixth studio album by French electronic music band M83. The album was released on 18 October 2011, by Naïve Records in France and by Mute Records in the United States. The album was the last ...
''. She also sang on "New France" by Orbital, from their 2012 album '' Wonky''.


2013–present: ''Taiga'' and ''Okovi''

In August 2013, '' Versions'', a set of neo-classical reworkings of previous tracks from Zola Jesus releases, in a collaboration with producer JG Thirlwell, was released through Sacred Bones. After having resided in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
for a period, Danilova found living in a large city was negatively impacting her ability to concentrate, and relocated to
Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
, followed by her native Wisconsin, before settling in Washington to begin completing her new record. On June 18, 2014, she announced the release of her fourth studio album, ''
Taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruc ...
''. This album, released by Mute Records, features a more prominent pop influence than her previous releases, with Danilova drawing inspiration from popular vocalists such as Mariah Carey and
Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...
. "I was a child of the Nineties," she commented. "I grew up on Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, and I was listening to a lot of vocal music. You know, divas — Mariah Carey, Aaliyah, Barbra Streisand — strong female vocals. n this recordI wanted to be really confident in my voice, which is usually very intense." In 2017, Danilova relocated to her hometown of Merrill, Wisconsin, and built a home on her family's property. In September 2017, she returned to Sacred Bones to release her fifth studio album, ''
Okovi ''Okovi'' ( en, Shackles) is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Zola Jesus. It was released on September 8, 2017 by Sacred Bones Records. The album was written in Danilova's hometown in Wisconsin, where she retreated after dealing ...
'', which she wrote after a protracted bout of depression. Prior to composing the album, Danilova said she spent time "watching movies, reading books, then I moved back to Wisconsin, started building my house, but mostly I was just trying to give myself time to live, because you write an album, then you tour and you forget you are a human being, you become a gipsy in a way, so it has been important to me to give myself more time to live outside of the music." The album marked her first to feature
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
instrumentation. In May 2020, Danilova announced the release of her first live album, '' Live at Roadburn 2018'', which features 12 live tracks from the 2018 Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands. It was initially made available via
Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
, and scheduled for a CD and double-LP release in June 2020. In 2021, Danilova was reported to be appearing on the podcast '' Storybound''.


Artistry


Influences

Danilova has stated that she has been influenced by a number of singers and bands, including Ian Curtis,
Lydia Lunch Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...
,
Diamanda Galás Diamanda Galás (born August 29, 1955) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, visual artist, and soprano. She has campaigned for AIDS education and the rights of the infected. Galás's commitment to addressing social issues and her involve ...
, Throbbing Gristle,
Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...
and
Cristina Cristina is a female given name, and it is also a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Cristina (daughter of Edward the Exile), 11th-century English princess *Cristina (singer), Cristina Monet-Palaci (1956–2020), American s ...
. On her fourth album, ''Taiga'', she mentioned mainstream pop artists such as Mariah Carey and Barbra Streisand as being influences on her vocal performance.


Vocals and musical style

Her style has been described variously as "commanded by ominous lyrics and a sultry Goth delivery," According to the ''NME'', Zola Jesus "wails like
Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single " Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female ...
" on a music sometimes evoking
Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after atte ...
. '' Q'' magazine noted her for her "haunting vocals and swirling, electronic atmospherics...  located midway between
Florence Welch Florence Leontine Mary Welch (born 28 August 1986) is an English singer, the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the indie rock band Florence and the Machine. The band's debut studio album, ''Lungs'' (2009), topped the UK Albums Chart and wo ...
and Siouxsie and the Banshees."''Cottingham, Chris''. Q magazine. #294 January 2011. The 10 New Faces of 2011. P.46 She has also been compared to
Lisa Gerrard Lisa Germaine Gerrard (; born 12 April 1961) is an Australian musician, singer and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with music partner Brendan Perry. She is known for her unique singing style technique ( ...
of
Dead Can Dance Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane des ...
and Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins. Numerous Zola Jesus music videos have been directed by Canadian-American director Jacqueline Castel, including "Vessel," "Seekir," "Night," "Nail," and "Exhumed." Since 2012, Zola Jesus has collaborated with New York-based
costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...
and
wardrobe stylist A wardrobe stylist, also fashion stylist, is a consultant who selects the clothing for published editorial features, print or television advertising campaigns, music videos, concert performances, and any public appearances made by celebrities, mod ...
Jenni Hensler, whose work can be seen in the videos for "Dangerous Days," "Seekir," and "Hunger," and who also co-directed the remix video for "Ash to Bone".


Personal life

She is a cousin of Minnesota Senator and former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate
Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minne ...
.


Band members

* Nika Danilovavocals, electronics * Alex DeGrootguitar * Louise Woodwardviolin, viola * Nick Johnsondrums


Discography

* '' The Spoils'' (2009) * '' Stridulum II'' (2010) * ''
Conatus In the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, conatus (; :wikt:conatus; Latin for "effort; endeavor; impulse, inclination, tendency; undertaking; striving") is an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself. This "thing" may b ...
'' (2011) * ''
Taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruc ...
'' (2014) * ''
Okovi ''Okovi'' ( en, Shackles) is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Zola Jesus. It was released on September 8, 2017 by Sacred Bones Records. The album was written in Danilova's hometown in Wisconsin, where she retreated after dealing ...
'' (2017) * ''Arkhon'' (2022)


References


External links

* – official site *
L.A. Record interview

Too Cool To Die interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jesus, Zola 1989 births 21st-century American singers American women singer-songwriters Record producers from Arizona American contraltos American synth-pop musicians Art pop musicians Dark wave musicians Living people Musicians from Phoenix, Arizona People from Merrill, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni American women in electronic music 21st-century American women singers Sacred Bones Records artists American women record producers American people of Slovenian descent American people of Ukrainian descent American people of German descent American people of Russian descent Singer-songwriters from Arizona Singer-songwriters from Wisconsin