ZOLA JESUS
You’ve been making music for over a decade as Zola Jesus – why did you choose this name for yourself? I came up with it when I was 14, after discovering the writer Emile Zola. I guess I took the Zola and for some reason put Jesus alongside it. I asked people to call me that at school but nobody did! Te name stuck around so when I first started making music it was the obvious choice. You trained as an opera singer –what did you learn that you use as Zola Jesus? I still study opera to this day. I try to sing using proper technique as it’s healthier and the only way I can get through huge tours. Also studying opera teaches you to project your voice and use it very efficiently, which I try to do. You grew up in Wisconsin, spending a lot of time on your own as a child. How did these early influences shape your identity as an artist? I think just growing up very isolated in a secluded area forced me to become comfortable being alone and also to feel inspired by that, which made my imagination stronger. You’ve recently built a house right near where you grew up in Wisconsin. Why did you decide to move back there and how did this environment have an effect on your new album Okovi? I just really missed the area where I grew up and my family. I travel so much that when I’m at home I want to actually feel
36 / OCT-NOV 2017 /
OUTLINEONLINE.CO.UK
Nika, of Russian origin, grew up in rural Wisconsin playing on her own and creating her own little world. Now at the age of 28 she’s just released her sixth album and has toured the world, sharing her mystical, primal, very personal music. She’s visiting the Arts Centre on her next tour – don’t miss this chance to see an incredibly creative and individual artist live and direct. I spoke to Nika about studying opera, her monochromatic style and what she misses the most when she’s out on tour.
like I’m at home. It’s something that felt very intuitive and right to me, and moving back has made me feel more liberated and the isolation that I felt as a child, that made me feel like I was the only person in the world and could do whatever I wanted without judgement is very empowering. Your last album Taiga was a bit of a departure from your earlier work. Where would you say Okovi fits in with your back catalogue? If anything, it’s the most representative of the entire journey that I’ve been through. It includes some of the more atmospheric aspects of my earlier work but is still very well produced and well made, like Taiga. It’s like coming full circle a little bit. Last year, whilst writing the album, it seems that you were much affected by death. Do you see your albums as a sort of diary entry for what’s happening in your life at that time? Certainly, yeah. I was going through a lot of very difficult moments, and was using music as a catharsis to understand and work through all the things that were happening to me and around me at that time. You’ve dipped into a wide variety of genres including classical, pop, electronic and industrial. What is your songwriting process – music first or lyrics first? Because I produce and write at the same time I’m opportunistic in that I’ll take any idea that I have, whether it’s a beat or a
Zola Jesus plays at Norwich Arts Centre on 3rd November. Tickets available from
norwichartscentre.co.uk
synth line or a lyric or a vocal melody and I’ll sit down at the piano. I’m greedy for ideas so when I get one I see it through, so the songs always come in different ways. You play with four band members live. How have you learnt how to explain to them what you want from your sound? I just give them the recorded songs and we try to work out together how to play them live. I don’t want it to sound exactly like the record when we play live because live music has a different shape and quality and experience, so you just want to maximise that different embodiment of the music. You tend to wear black and white clothing and have a futuristic style – how does this relate to your music? I think it’s all coming from the same place – this world that I live in, and how I dress and live my life are all part of the same world as the music. You’re heading out on an enormous tour, 52 dates across the States and Europe. What do you miss most about home when you are away? Everything! I miss my bed, my house, my family, my cat, my husband. It’s very hard. I think I might be back for a week but that’s about it.
LIZZ PAGE
Read this interview in full at
outlineonline.co.uk
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