Zola Jesus announced today the details of her brand new and highly anticipated album ‘Taiga’, out on October 7th, 2014 on Mute Records.
25-year-old Nika is the singer, sole songwriter and producer behind Zola Jesus’ creative incarnations. This exciting new release was written on Vashon Island, WA, and mixed in Los Angeles, CA by the esteemed Dean Hurley (David Lynch, Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse). ‘Taiga‘ is Zola Jesus’ fourth studio album and follows previous critically acclaimed albums ‘Versions’ (2013) and ‘Conatus’ (2011). The first single from her forthcoming 11-track full-length is “Dangerous Days.” (streaming below)
Taiga is the Russian name for the boreal forest, “It represents a feral, untapped world that could happily exist without us. There are taiga forests in Northern Wisconsin where I was raised, and also in Russia where my ancestors are from, so it also feels very native,” explains Nika.
Liberated in the present and connected to the past, this album is a transition for Zola Jesus. Masterful layers of composition are bathed in familiar atmospheric vocals, but a new sensibility is deeply present. Taiga is at once challenging and accessible, and is undeniably branded with what Nika terms a “piercing ambition.” Such encompassing purpose, she explains, would be impossible without a newfound sense of artistic self. The album is a declaration of that purpose; one faced with jarring clarity in both its content and production. Nika explains, “For me, it feels like my true debut, because it is the first time I have felt so open and liberated.”
