Thursday, July 24, 2008

zola jesus - Poor Sons EP



Zola Jesus is minimal, and not afraid of the distortion or delay. The track 'Poor Sons' is an acoustic piano loop under these quiet female vocals...I keep putting it on to hear them...it really keeps it grounded, far away from unlistenable experimentation, which can be written off pretty quickly, unless it's uber-compelling, like in this case vocally. There's a haunting track of really high warbly vocals way off in the distance adding to this....not exactly depressing....but more forebidding...like a real haunted house....not exactly Diamanda Galas, there's a lot more melody and songwriting here....but maybe at times I can hear it....it might be more mood though.

'Dog' is another track on the release from Die Stasi and after watching their youtube videos it looks like Zola is led by the keyboard/vocalist, who has this great melodic voice, and isn't afraid to fuck it up for excellent tones that bleed into the distorted synth and clip into no-fi. The best kind of home recordings, where you are left wondering what influenced this half synth-soul industrial goodness.
Another track I'm into on their myspace 'Odessa' is classic Suicide, that fast heartbeat electronic high hat rhythm with repetitive drowned keyboard and beyond distorted vocals.

Where did this come from and where is it going?

From SS records

Found on Volcanic Tongue...here's their review:

Amazing 7" from this solo femme from Madison, Wisconsin who cuts eerie keyboard driven hymnals with spooked, F/X damaged vocals in a way that seems to channel the ghosts of Suicide, Diamanda Galas, Meredith Monk and Kate Bush. The sound is extremely fuggy, just dripping with psychedelic atmosphere and the haunting vocal melodies skirt classic post-Velvets song-forms and ecstatic throat reveries like nothing else. Highly recommended and one to watch for sure.

$6 Paypal to diestasi AT gmail.com (email for availability first)

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous10:28 PM

    I really like "The Way" on this 7". It's practically danceable, joyous, and very unlike the other two tracks. "Poor Sons" is the reason to get this 7" though....

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