Goth Queen of the Night and real-life wraith Zola Jesus performed yet another incredible performance last night in Atlanta, this time at the intimate Aisle 5.
Zola, or Nika Roza Danilova, or Nicole Hummel (depending on how deep a dive into her biography you care to go) is possessed by one of the most amazing voices in contemporary music, which in her case combines elements of electronic, industrial, classical, and goth.
We've seen Zola Jesus perform before, back in 2011 at the ever-dependable Earl, and in 2015 at the incredibly user-friendly Terminal West. Last night's performance at Aisle 5 more than lived up to the redoubtable track record established by those previous performances.
It was a truly amazing performance, in front of a clearly adoring audience. In a nutshell, her overall trajectory has been from an avant-garde noise-rock background to the goth-industrial music for which she's best known, to a brief dalliance with a crossover pop sound mixing her powerhouse vocals with a more accessible electro-pop background, and a return to her dark, late-night goth sound. I've been with her and adoring her every step of her path, and look forward to whatever she chooses to take on next.
And in case you suspect that her amazing voice is somehow amplified, manipulated or otherwise altered by synthesized electronics, here she is nearly a capella on the streets of New York City, not so much accompanied by a trombone as competing with that old sackbutt..
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