The Spoils delivers - eventually
Jack Evans | Staff Writer, Music Critic
Last Updated:2/2/10 Section: Music Reviews
I was disappointed that Zola Jesus' The Spoils was largely ignored last month when the critics were compiling their year-end lists, but I understood. Really, the last thing indie rock needs right now is more boys and girls recording skuzzy, lo-fi solo projects from their dorm rooms -- on a surface-level that's exactly what Zola Jesus is. But where her peers use lo-fi as a medium for plain old pop songs that evoke extroverted activities like going to the beach (Best Coast, Wavves) and sitting around a campfire (Woods), Nika Danilova's music is weirder, artsier, and decidedly more introverted.
In fact, The Spoils is often terrifying. It sounds like being trapped inside a metal trashcan in the middle of an awful snowstorm. The snare hits of the drum machine assault your ears like hail stones while the distorted hiss of the keyboard numbs them like an icy wind. This bleak sonic atmosphere legitimizes some almost cartoonishly goth lyrics like "Bury your daughter/Bury your son" and "Let the Devil take you over."
But for the most part the lyrics are (intentionally) not even close to discernable. Most of the time Danilova's voice acts as just another instrument, which is fine because it's one hell of an instrument. Arguably the album's biggest selling point, Danilova's (operatically trained!) howling skirts the line between beautiful and horrifying, usually ending up someplace where those two descriptors become indistinguishable.
Standout tracks like "Six Feet (From My Baby)" and "Smireyne" aren't exactly accessible, but the vocal and keyboard hooks emerge after repeated listens-especially in the case of the latter which at times weirdly recalls the slow burning balladry of The Walkmen's Bows + Arrows. The most immediate track, though, is "Clay Bodies," an eerie march down the wedding aisle (dig the video) wherein Danilova wails, "I'm not going down without a fight."
I sincerely hope she will follow through on that promise with a follow-up (with better production values, perhaps?) and get the critical attention she deserves.
In fact, The Spoils is often terrifying. It sounds like being trapped inside a metal trashcan in the middle of an awful snowstorm. The snare hits of the drum machine assault your ears like hail stones while the distorted hiss of the keyboard numbs them like an icy wind. This bleak sonic atmosphere legitimizes some almost cartoonishly goth lyrics like "Bury your daughter/Bury your son" and "Let the Devil take you over."
But for the most part the lyrics are (intentionally) not even close to discernable. Most of the time Danilova's voice acts as just another instrument, which is fine because it's one hell of an instrument. Arguably the album's biggest selling point, Danilova's (operatically trained!) howling skirts the line between beautiful and horrifying, usually ending up someplace where those two descriptors become indistinguishable.
Standout tracks like "Six Feet (From My Baby)" and "Smireyne" aren't exactly accessible, but the vocal and keyboard hooks emerge after repeated listens-especially in the case of the latter which at times weirdly recalls the slow burning balladry of The Walkmen's Bows + Arrows. The most immediate track, though, is "Clay Bodies," an eerie march down the wedding aisle (dig the video) wherein Danilova wails, "I'm not going down without a fight."
I sincerely hope she will follow through on that promise with a follow-up (with better production values, perhaps?) and get the critical attention she deserves.
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