Zola Jesus: "Taiga"

  

The wait is over. A new album of all new songs and not just stringed re-interpretations. The title track that opens the album is also one of the album's darker and more experimental moments. The ice woman facade melts, leaving her take on pop music. Her music has always been electronic and in some ways pop, but it came from a darker place than popular music from the 80s came out of. The melodies of songs like "Dangerous Days," which is also the lead single of the album,  come from a no less emotional place, just a less desperate and brooding place.

The mood shifts slightly back into the old witch house/ goth roots with a smooth coat of R&B over it on "Dust." The song resonates with me more than "Dangerous Days," which is still trying to grow on me. The backing track is sparser and darker here. The songs have more breathing room, even in the dynamic builds. One reason for this is that she has said in a recent interview that she wrote these songs around her voice,  rather than creating soundscapes and singing on top of them.  This is very obvious on the song "Nail," which lays her voice out nakedly.

The synths that open "Hunger" caught me off guard as they were a little brighter, but this song turns into one of the album's more intense moments, and captures the emotion I want from her. Like Morrissey or Robert Smith, Zola has now put herself into a place where we don't hear her to be happy, yet she paints with a broader emotional capacity here. "I've got a hunger in my veins/ I won't surrender until it takes me away/" doesn't come across like she is talking about addiction; it seems hopeful, like it's more about recovery.

Vocally, her strongest moment is "Go (Blank Sea)" , she abandons her trademark belting on the verses and allows her voice some room to sing. There are also some darker synths haunting the background on this one. What has changed is that there is less noise and harsh experimentation, which is sometimes missed more than others, as the weirdness that does color the songs works with them rather than against them. So you might be disappointed it that was your favorite thing about her earlier work.

Lyrically, the big difference is the clarity of the soul searching. The recovery theme is not unfounded when she sings lines like "From first step to last /  I'm rising from the ashes " on "Ego". So the sobering mood is somewhat brighter, relying on the subtle shadows of songs like the vast "Lawless". Some of this recovery might not be from substance, but from the urban environment she previously wrote in, as this album was written from a remote island of the Washington coast.

Her songs have traditionally grown on me; the ones that initially catch my ear, like "Long Way Down," don't mean they will always be the most endearing in the long run . The hook is less subtle here, so I am not sure if they will still work like creeper weed on this one, as sugary as pop is it normally sticks more at first, but if anyone is going to break that rule, it would be her.  There are some songs with a dynamic range like "Hollow" that can't be denied even upon first listen, as they are rather breathtaking. This is where the more mature songwriting approach is most evident.

The album ends with the ethereal musing of  "It's Not Over", where I think old Zola and New Zola are best blended. It's the darker feel I want married to the crisper songwriting and production. Like I said, she tends to grow on me, so I am working off first impressions of the handful of times I have listened to this album. Once it's loaded in the iPod and I see what type of soundtrack it provides to daily life, I will be able to more fully digest it. I knew a change in how things worked for her was going to happen, and though this is poppier, it's a far cry from Lorde or Pink, so she hasn't sold out on us, so breathe another sigh of relief.  I'll go ahead and give this one a 10, though if you know me, that's not going to come as much of a surprise.