Who is zola jesus

This artist has never performed at The Vogue. Upcoming Events This artist doesn't have any upcoming events at The Vogue. Past Shows This artist doesn't have any past events at The Vogue. Similar Artists. Danilova still takes lessons periodically from Philleo to get a tune up, check her technique and work on her voice.

She was already singing opera arias by 8th grade. It fits well with the music Danilova writes and produces. Danilova works with producers too but does the writing and is deeply involved in the production. She has been writing and recording music since she had the means to, first on a four-track recorder and later on software that essentially allowed her to create her own band.

It was in Madison where she found other supporters of experimental music. She was recording and putting out her music onto the internet on MySpace, for instance. Getting connected with a group of musicians gave her the confidence to take her music from her bedroom to the stage, and she found other musicians who played instruments to help her form a band for live shows.

Her music started getting noticed. Small labels started contacting her, she started making records and going on tours. Her music career ratcheted up from there. I grew up with such a strong work ethic—feeling like you can always be better and achieve more.

My parents pushed me to be driven and determined. In a way, I am coming to terms with the fact that there is no fully-realized self. You are who you are, and that power is always within you. Your music always feels kind of life-or-death. Did the stakes feel higher this time around? The opposite. I feel like I have nothing to lose. What I went through with this record—I felt like everything finally opened up, having that empowerment by not caring at all [what people think].

So much of how I work as a musician is masochistic because I do feel like I need to prove something to myself, and I need to prove something to the world. I feel like I am born to fail, because I constantly feel like everything I do is failing.

Someone very close to me attempted suicide last summer, and I was away. I got a call saying that this had happened and I felt powerless. I really connected with this person and I wanted to be there. That sharpens my skills and challenges me creatively. Oh, yeah. For the Stridulum EP, I had a little bit more of a sophisticated set-up. Instead of using Audacity on the computer, which I used for The Spoils , I used Logic and was exploring whole different territories.

So I asked my friend Alex DeGroot, who was an audio engineer, if he would record my vocals, because he had a really nice microphone. He did, and then I realized he really knew a lot about the technical aspect of mixing and engineering. I asked him if he would mix Stridulum to make sure the levels were correct, because I was awful at that and still am.

He did that. That was the first time I let somebody else in. What was it like letting someone else in to the process? Did it change your approach for recording future albums? What did that add to what you were doing already? At first, working with somebody else made me very cautious. I just wanted him to mix levels. Even though I thought he probably had a lot of good ideas, I was very protective. I can have help with someone just changing volumes on things or recording things, but playing things or having artistic ideas was really stressful to me.

In the beginning, I think my ego was still so young that I wanted to know that everything that I heard on the record was my doing. It would just be like a line. What did it feel like listening back to those vocal takes that you recorded with that nice microphone for the first time? I think the nicer the mic I started to use and the more clarification that happened with my voice, the more I recoiled, because I never like what I hear. Because my relationship with my voice is so strained, it was really hard to hear the voice and to realize how it sounded.

I think a lot of the time I would force it to be something, to try to have control over it instead of letting it be what it was. I never like how my voice sounds. I was still discovering it. It took five years before I was able to hear my real voice and to get rid of all the effects, but also all the effects that I was doing inside my mouth, because you can affect the sound within yourself. It has been a long process. In , I reestablished a relationship with my voice instructor and she helped me uncover my voice.

I knew that I needed to stay on the path because even if something sounded fine before, I knew that it was wrong and I knew that it was unhealthy. I was going to ask you about how Versions came about. That was because of the Guggenheim performance that you did, right? I was invited to perform at the Guggenheim in or It could have just been a regular performance with my band, but because I felt like the opportunity was so special, I wanted to perform with a string quartet.

I was connected to JG Thirlwell, who made the string arrangements, which was absolutely surreal as a long-time fan of his work.

Then from there it was such a unique, wonderful event, and the arrangements were so special that we wanted to memorialize them and make it its own thing. Which songs do I choose?