According to Zola Jesus, fifth album ‘Taiga’ feels like her true debut. Just 25, her six-year refinement has been captivating.
Early fans may crave the gauzy goth experiments, but from those ashes a defiant voice has risen, a new label in Mute is now on board, and the mass ears of modern pop are all the better for it.
Swept with dark, crystalline grandeur, ‘Taiga’ traverses infectious electro-pop choruses by shrouding everything in a mutating orchestral cloak.
When we’re not soaring we’re wrapped in ambient solemnity, all the while fixated on Nika Danilova’s voice: theatrical, confessional and, perhaps for the first time, totally unafraid.
7/10
Words: Kim Hillyard
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