Conatus (album)
Encyclopedia
Conatus is the third studio album
by American recording artist Zola Jesus
, released in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2011 and in the United States on October 4 by Sacred Bones Records
. The album was produced by Brian "Nudge" Foote (Jackie-O Motherfucker
, Cloudland Canyon) and Nika Roza Danilova herself.
, she said she wanted the album to be a step forward. "[I]n doing that, there was so, so much trial and error and so much quitting music at the end of the day", she admitted. Danilova said that the title of the album (meaning "moving forward
" in Latin) appeared before the work on it began. "I had it in mind beforehand because I knew that's what I was going through even before I sat down to work on the record, I was already going through that emotional process of trying to push myself", she said.
Answering the question about how and why the new album was different from her previous records, Danilova said:
Brian Foote, Danilova's friend, has been bought in when she realized she had too much of ideas to sort them out. "Some of them weren't really a good fit, as I found out during the process, and by the end I kind of realised that I needed someone to help me along the way. So, it made sense to ask Brian as he's a great friend of mine that also lives in Los Angeles and he has a great studio with lots of resources. He helped oversee the production of the record and made sure that everything was done on time and nothing was missed out during recording and it worked out just perfect", she said. It was easy for her to work with Foote who, understanding that she was a "control freak", tried to "step away a lot". Yet, he had a lot of "great suggestions about how to change little things to make them more effective", according to Danilova, and also let her use his "amazing synth collection" which helped the songs grow.
For the first time ever Danilova has brought in session musicians: Nick Johnson (drums, who is also a member of her live band), Sean McCann (viola
, violin
) and Ryan York (cello
, double bass
). "I can't play violin or cello or stand-up bass, or drums. I can play keyboards, kind of. So all the keyboard parts I wrote and played, and then I would send the string parts that I had wrote on the keyboard to the string players and they would just mimic that. Same with the drums. I try to do as much as possible, still, but I wish I could play drums", she explained.
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 79, based on 28 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Q
magazine praised it as "a mind-blowing and powerfully emotional album", rating it 4/5. Sam Shepherd of musicOMH
wrote, "More bare structurally, musically and emotionally than its predecessor, yet by the same token, fuller and more alive, [Conatus] is an amazing work that showcases a phenomenal talent and a unique voice." Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times
gave Conatus a 3.5/4 rating, calling it a "thoroughly bewitching album", while Stephane Girard of Resident Advisor
dubbed it "Zola Jesus' most gratifying offering so far", and The A.V. Club
s Jason Heller agreed, stating that on Conatus, "she's made another bold step toward fully realizing her cyborg-like, post-goth opera." Pitchfork Media
's Brian Howe viewed the album as a huge step forward as well, noting that "[m]ost traces of obscuring murk have burned away, so that every pock and ridge in the rugged, elemental music stands out distinctly. [...] Her bouts of nihilism feel nervier and more bracing in the unforgiving light of sonic clarity. The closer she gets, the more enigmatic she's revealed to be." Filter
reviewer Laura Studarus referred to the album as a "textured collection of 11 tunes—all united with an innate sense of 'epicness.' Danilova's more-is-more mentality may be off-putting to some listeners (instrumental embellishments circle her swooping voice like auditory eyeliner), but it's executed with the utmost care."
Heather Phares of Allmusic expressed that "[w]hile Conatus isn't as direct as Stridulum, it's still some of her most satisfying work. This is music made in and for the darkest hours, and a striking portrait of the times when crisis and opportunity meet." Matt James of PopMatters
described the album as "enchanting, exhausting, cathartic, borderline traumatic, and curiously beautiful to its dying breath", adding that "Conatus is an album rich with highlights. It's melodrama so operatic, everything's built to sound like the last song you'll ever hear." Jen Long of BBC Music
felt that the album is "trademark Zola Jesus" which hasn't "taken any great strides away from the formula that's served its master so well to date" and, while the production has certainly taken a step up, the lyrical content of songs prove to be less memorable than the delivery. Long concluded: "This is a strong record, there's no doubting that—but it still feels like the best is yet to come from Danilova, which some may consider a disappointment now that she's three albums to the good." Evan Hanlon of Dusted Magazine thought that "[t]he lyrical content is largely superfluous, and despite the obvious upgrade in production and a newfound embrace of the spotlight, the program is very much the same." Praising "Vessel" and "Seekir" as the album's two most innovative tracks, Emily Mackay of NME
concluded: "Mostly, though, Conatus gives you a more polished version of exactly what you'd want from a Zola Jesus album". The Observer
s Kitty Empire
found the album "very accomplished, but lacking in variety".
opined that on Conatus, Zola Jesus "reveals herself as an avant-gardist
with pop ambition."
The Los Angeles Times also found "below the bleak, seasick surfaces" a "deeply romantic streak that complicates the idea of who or what Zola Jesus is", noting that "[i]t's this disarming sensuality that allowed Danilova to fit in alongside Beck
and Mike Patton
at a recent Serge Gainsbourg
tribute at the Hollywood Bowl." Evan Hanlon of Dusted Magazine opined that "Seekir" "is the closest Zola Jesus gets to a club hit" and even draws parallels with Lady Gaga
: "There is the singular, artistic persona that represents an entire project of identity. The moody drama that stems from this persona infused into each song. The challenge to popular music orthodoxy from within the system. And above all, the placement of a powerful operatic voice at the focal point, and in Nika Roza Danilova's case, the classical training that goes along with it." Now reviewer Anupa Mistry agreed, stating: "Like her prior work, the songs are thematically dark and diffuse, but the dancey impulses on 'Vessel' and 'Seekir' signal headier paths ahead. Could Zola Jesus be the inverse Lady Gaga?" Reef Younis, writing for Clash
, remarked that "[s]tepping out of the shadows suits her after all."
Still, Allmusic's Heather Phares saw a lot of complexity on the album that "extends even to [the album's] relatively accessible moments, which inch closer to pop without actually delivering it". She also wrote that over the course of the album, Danilova "nods to goth
, synth pop
, industrial
, and abstract electronica
without pledging allegiance to any one style; she's forging her own path", presenting "fractured beats and electronics [...] alongside strings and other organic elements in a pristine studio setting." Ben Hewitt of The Quietus
mentioned how prior to the album's release Zola Jesus "revealed that she'd immersed herself so deeply in its (typically cheery) themes of alienation and isolation that she became 'completely lost'", adding that "while the misery of Stridulum II was often delivered with the same subtlety as a Hammer Horror
movie, Conatus is far more ambient and ethereal—and doubly eerie as a result." According to Consequence of Sound
's Frank Mojica, "Rather than radically reinventing the sound from Danilova's second full length, 2010's Stridulum II
, Conatus comes across as a more fully-realized Zola Jesus production. This album is elevating as well as moody, as it runs through various shades of both electronic and organic darkness. Although familiar by now, the Zola Jesus style has been refined enough so that it remains fresh and leaves the listener awaiting the next otherworldly journey." "Though some may miss the rough and raw approach of her last two EPs, it's refreshing and exciting to hear music that relies on bone-hard essence rather than gauzy trimmings to create an aura of mystery. There's a newfound sense of purpose, as if, having tested her abilities, Danilova now understands exactly what she's doing", according to Pitchfork.
Among other artists Conatus reviewers compared Zola Jesus to are Tori Amos
, New Order
, Patti Smith
, Stevie Nicks
, Throbbing Gristle
, Elizabeth Fraser
, Dead Can Dance
and Siouxsie Sioux
. In a broader sense, PopMatters' Matt James noticed similarities with the work of Edgar Allan Poe
, Munch
, Bresson
, Francesca Woodman
and Gorecki.
Heather Phares opined that "Danilova's throatily majestic voice" is "as unmistakable as ever. Her instrument is undeniably powerful, and more controlled here than it was before", but still demonstrates "remarkable rawness and vulnerability". Sam Shepherd wrote that "[h]er voice is so unique and haunting that it is instantly recognisable." Brian Howe of Pitchfork commented, "Whatever biosphere you choose to project on it [...], Danilova's voice remains fixed on a faraway horizon, receding as you approach. When she bursts into the foreground on 'Avalanche' and stays there for the remainder of the album, the impression of impassable distance lingers. This is partly because of the authority of Danilova's voice, and partly because the music gives nothing away, thrumming along with power that shades into ambivalence toward the shifting emotional register of the singing. The results are dramatic but never melodramatic, as Danilova maps the dimensions of her self-imprisonment with resolve."
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American recording artist Zola Jesus
Zola jesus
Zola Jesus is the stage name of Russian American singer/songwriter Nika Roza Danilova . Having released three EPs and two full-length albums, combining industrial, classical, electronic, goth and experimental rock influences, she received generally good reviews and was regarded as one of the names...
, released in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2011 and in the United States on October 4 by Sacred Bones Records
Sacred Bones Records
Sacred Bones Records is an independent record label founded in 2007, based in Brooklyn, NY. The label has released recordings from artists including Zola Jesus, Moon Duo, The Men, Cult of Youth and Blank Dogs...
. The album was produced by Brian "Nudge" Foote (Jackie-O Motherfucker
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 has had more than forty members drawn from the U.S....
, Cloudland Canyon) and Nika Roza Danilova herself.
Background
Several critics noticed that the new album sounds different from Zola Jesus' earlier works. "I just wanted to try out new ways to produce and different ways to write. 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", Danilova explained. Speaking to Prefix Magazine after her performance at the Pitchfork Music FestivalPitchfork Music Festival
The Pitchfork Music Festival is an annual summer music festival organized by Pitchfork Media and held in Union Park in Chicago, IL. The festival, which is normally held over three days in July, focuses primarily on artists and bands from alternative rock, rap & hip-hop, electronica, and dance...
, she said she wanted the album to be a step forward. "[I]n doing that, there was so, so much trial and error and so much quitting music at the end of the day", she admitted. Danilova said that the title of the album (meaning "moving forward
Conatus
Conatus is a term used in early philosophies of psychology and metaphysics to refer to an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself. This "thing" may be mind, matter or a combination of both...
" in Latin) appeared before the work on it began. "I had it in mind beforehand because I knew that's what I was going through even before I sat down to work on the record, I was already going through that emotional process of trying to push myself", she said.
Answering the question about how and why the new album was different from her previous records, Danilova said:
Brian Foote, Danilova's friend, has been bought in when she realized she had too much of ideas to sort them out. "Some of them weren't really a good fit, as I found out during the process, and by the end I kind of realised that I needed someone to help me along the way. So, it made sense to ask Brian as he's a great friend of mine that also lives in Los Angeles and he has a great studio with lots of resources. He helped oversee the production of the record and made sure that everything was done on time and nothing was missed out during recording and it worked out just perfect", she said. It was easy for her to work with Foote who, understanding that she was a "control freak", tried to "step away a lot". Yet, he had a lot of "great suggestions about how to change little things to make them more effective", according to Danilova, and also let her use his "amazing synth collection" which helped the songs grow.
For the first time ever Danilova has brought in session musicians: Nick Johnson (drums, who is also a member of her live band), Sean McCann (viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
) and Ryan York (cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
). "I can't play violin or cello or stand-up bass, or drums. I can play keyboards, kind of. So all the keyboard parts I wrote and played, and then I would send the string parts that I had wrote on the keyboard to the string players and they would just mimic that. Same with the drums. I try to do as much as possible, still, but I wish I could play drums", she explained.
Critical reception
Upon its release, Conatus received positive reviews from most music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 79, based on 28 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine praised it as "a mind-blowing and powerfully emotional album", rating it 4/5. Sam Shepherd of musicOMH
MusicOMH
musicOMH is a United Kingdom-based website which publishes independent reviews, featues and interviews from across all musical genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.-History:...
wrote, "More bare structurally, musically and emotionally than its predecessor, yet by the same token, fuller and more alive, [Conatus] is an amazing work that showcases a phenomenal talent and a unique voice." Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
gave Conatus a 3.5/4 rating, calling it a "thoroughly bewitching album", while Stephane Girard of Resident Advisor
Resident Advisor
Resident Advisor is an online electronic music magazine dedicated to the global dance music scene. The website won a People's Voice award in the 12th Annual Webby Awards in 2008.-Site History:...
dubbed it "Zola Jesus' most gratifying offering so far", and The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
s Jason Heller agreed, stating that on Conatus, "she's made another bold step toward fully realizing her cyborg-like, post-goth opera." Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's Brian Howe viewed the album as a huge step forward as well, noting that "[m]ost traces of obscuring murk have burned away, so that every pock and ridge in the rugged, elemental music stands out distinctly. [...] Her bouts of nihilism feel nervier and more bracing in the unforgiving light of sonic clarity. The closer she gets, the more enigmatic she's revealed to be." Filter
Filter (magazine)
FILTER, the publication that promises us that "Good music will prevail," is a seasonal American music and off-beat entertainment magazine. It features commentary and photos of up-and-coming musicians and filmmakers ranging from actors to writer-directors...
reviewer Laura Studarus referred to the album as a "textured collection of 11 tunes—all united with an innate sense of 'epicness.' Danilova's more-is-more mentality may be off-putting to some listeners (instrumental embellishments circle her swooping voice like auditory eyeliner), but it's executed with the utmost care."
Heather Phares of Allmusic expressed that "[w]hile Conatus isn't as direct as Stridulum, it's still some of her most satisfying work. This is music made in and for the darkest hours, and a striking portrait of the times when crisis and opportunity meet." Matt James of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
described the album as "enchanting, exhausting, cathartic, borderline traumatic, and curiously beautiful to its dying breath", adding that "Conatus is an album rich with highlights. It's melodrama so operatic, everything's built to sound like the last song you'll ever hear." Jen Long of BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....
felt that the album is "trademark Zola Jesus" which hasn't "taken any great strides away from the formula that's served its master so well to date" and, while the production has certainly taken a step up, the lyrical content of songs prove to be less memorable than the delivery. Long concluded: "This is a strong record, there's no doubting that—but it still feels like the best is yet to come from Danilova, which some may consider a disappointment now that she's three albums to the good." Evan Hanlon of Dusted Magazine thought that "[t]he lyrical content is largely superfluous, and despite the obvious upgrade in production and a newfound embrace of the spotlight, the program is very much the same." Praising "Vessel" and "Seekir" as the album's two most innovative tracks, Emily Mackay of NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
concluded: "Mostly, though, Conatus gives you a more polished version of exactly what you'd want from a Zola Jesus album". The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
s Kitty Empire
Kitty Empire
Kitty Empire is the pen name of a British writer and music critic.Empire was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1970 and brought up in Canada, Italy and Egypt before arriving in Britain in 1988....
found the album "very accomplished, but lacking in variety".
Style
Some critics mentioned Danilova's initial intention "to make a big sounding pop album", and the way she's "found that the music she was creating was expressing itself as something more introspective", as the work progressed. "Despite stepping away from the notion of making a pop album, 'In Your Nature' hints at where Conatus might have headed had Danilova's tendency to write songs that inhabit the darker end of the spectrum not come to the fore", according to musicOMH. Resident Advisor cited "Seekir" and "In Your Nature" as "prime examples of how she has quickly and impressively matured from bedroom industrial experimentalist to perverse yet universal synth-popper", while Anupa Mistry of Canadian magazine NowNOW (magazine)
Now is a free weekly newspaper in Toronto, Canada. It was first printed on September 10, 1981 by Michael Hollett and Alice Klein. Now is an alternative weekly mixing arts and entertainment news with political coverage....
opined that on Conatus, Zola Jesus "reveals herself as an avant-gardist
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
with pop ambition."
The Los Angeles Times also found "below the bleak, seasick surfaces" a "deeply romantic streak that complicates the idea of who or what Zola Jesus is", noting that "[i]t's this disarming sensuality that allowed Danilova to fit in alongside Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
and Mike Patton
Mike Patton
Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the metal/experimental rock band Faith No More. He has also sung for Mr...
at a recent Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...
tribute at the Hollywood Bowl." Evan Hanlon of Dusted Magazine opined that "Seekir" "is the closest Zola Jesus gets to a club hit" and even draws parallels with Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
: "There is the singular, artistic persona that represents an entire project of identity. The moody drama that stems from this persona infused into each song. The challenge to popular music orthodoxy from within the system. And above all, the placement of a powerful operatic voice at the focal point, and in Nika Roza Danilova's case, the classical training that goes along with it." Now reviewer Anupa Mistry agreed, stating: "Like her prior work, the songs are thematically dark and diffuse, but the dancey impulses on 'Vessel' and 'Seekir' signal headier paths ahead. Could Zola Jesus be the inverse Lady Gaga?" Reef Younis, writing for Clash
Clash (magazine)
Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine based in the United Kingdom. Its magazine title is published 12 times a year. It has a circulation of around 40,000....
, remarked that "[s]tepping out of the shadows suits her after all."
Still, Allmusic's Heather Phares saw a lot of complexity on the album that "extends even to [the album's] relatively accessible moments, which inch closer to pop without actually delivering it". She also wrote that over the course of the album, Danilova "nods to goth
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, synth pop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
, industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
, and abstract electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
without pledging allegiance to any one style; she's forging her own path", presenting "fractured beats and electronics [...] alongside strings and other organic elements in a pristine studio setting." Ben Hewitt of The Quietus
The Quietus
The Quietus is a British online rock music and pop culture magazine, focusing on arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication led by John Doran and a group of freelance journalists and critics, some of whom have worked for other media outlets...
mentioned how prior to the album's release Zola Jesus "revealed that she'd immersed herself so deeply in its (typically cheery) themes of alienation and isolation that she became 'completely lost'", adding that "while the misery of Stridulum II was often delivered with the same subtlety as a Hammer Horror
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
movie, Conatus is far more ambient and ethereal—and doubly eerie as a result." According to Consequence of Sound
Consequence of Sound
Consequence of Sound, also known often as CoS, is a Chicago-based music website featuring news, album and concert reviews, and editorials. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook micro-site, which serves as an on-line database for music festival news and rumors...
's Frank Mojica, "Rather than radically reinventing the sound from Danilova's second full length, 2010's Stridulum II
Stridulum II
- Credits :* Artwork - Indra Dunis* Producers – Alex DeGroot, Nika Roza Danilova * Written by – Nika Roza Danilova...
, Conatus comes across as a more fully-realized Zola Jesus production. This album is elevating as well as moody, as it runs through various shades of both electronic and organic darkness. Although familiar by now, the Zola Jesus style has been refined enough so that it remains fresh and leaves the listener awaiting the next otherworldly journey." "Though some may miss the rough and raw approach of her last two EPs, it's refreshing and exciting to hear music that relies on bone-hard essence rather than gauzy trimmings to create an aura of mystery. There's a newfound sense of purpose, as if, having tested her abilities, Danilova now understands exactly what she's doing", according to Pitchfork.
Among other artists Conatus reviewers compared Zola Jesus to are Tori Amos
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
, New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
, Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
, Stevie Nicks
Stevie Nicks
Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career, which collectively have produced over forty Top 50 hits and sold over 140 million albums...
, Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle were an English industrial, avant-garde music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions...
, Elizabeth Fraser
Elizabeth Fraser
Elizabeth Davidson Fraser is a Scottish singer best known as the vocalist for the pioneer alternative rock group Cocteau Twins...
, Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an ethereal neoclassical duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981, by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London in May 1982 and disbanded in 1998. Their 1996 album Spiritchaser reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart...
and Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer of the critically acclaimed rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees and of its splinter group The Creatures . The Banshees produced eleven studio albums and a string of hit singles including "Hong Kong Garden",...
. In a broader sense, PopMatters' Matt James noticed similarities with the work of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
, Munch
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker and an important forerunner of expressionist art. His best-known composition, The Scream, is part of a series The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety.- Childhood :Edvard Munch...
, Bresson
Robert Bresson
-Life and career:Bresson was born at Bromont-Lamothe, Puy-de-Dôme, the son of Marie-Élisabeth and Léon Bresson. Little is known of his early life and the year of his birth, 1901 or 1907, varies depending on the source. He was educated at Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris, and...
, Francesca Woodman
Francesca Woodman
Francesca Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring herself and female models. Many of her photographs show young women who are nude, who are blurred , who are merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured...
and Gorecki.
Vocal delivery
As with all of her previous releases, Zola Jesus's vocals and delivery in Conatus have been unanimously praised by critics. Frank Mojica of Consequence of Sound argued that "[s]ome singers are blessed with the rare sort of voice that's unmistakably theirs, and Nika Roza Danilova is one such artist. Under her stage name Zola Jesus, the opera-trained Danilova has paired vocals that are akin to a siren's call with neo-gothic synths that carry the listener to an often sinister land of mystery."Heather Phares opined that "Danilova's throatily majestic voice" is "as unmistakable as ever. Her instrument is undeniably powerful, and more controlled here than it was before", but still demonstrates "remarkable rawness and vulnerability". Sam Shepherd wrote that "[h]er voice is so unique and haunting that it is instantly recognisable." Brian Howe of Pitchfork commented, "Whatever biosphere you choose to project on it [...], Danilova's voice remains fixed on a faraway horizon, receding as you approach. When she bursts into the foreground on 'Avalanche' and stays there for the remainder of the album, the impression of impassable distance lingers. This is partly because of the authority of Danilova's voice, and partly because the music gives nothing away, thrumming along with power that shades into ambivalence toward the shifting emotional register of the singing. The results are dramatic but never melodramatic, as Danilova maps the dimensions of her self-imprisonment with resolve."
Track listing
Personnel
Credits for Conatus adapted from Allmusic.- Nika Roza Danilova – vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Josh Bonati – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Brandie Carlos – make-up
- Angel Ceballos – photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
- Brian Foote – producer, engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
- Nick Johnson – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Sean McCann – violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello.... - Davey Riley – additional engineer
- Ryan York – celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
Charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
158 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
144 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
175 |
| US Dance/Electronic Albums | 6 |
| US Heatseekers Albums Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
7 |
| US Independent Albums Independent Albums The Billboard Independent Albums is a chart of the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays in the United States, compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is used to list artists who are not signed to major labels... |
30 |