Zola Jesus wants to take us back to the forest.
The 25-year-old performer today dropped enchanting new single “Dangerous Days,” the first taste of new record Taiga, out October 7 on Mute Records. The crisp electro-pop track, which is a bit less experimental than her previous material, is available for free download via zolajesus.com; stream is via Soundcloud below.
Taiga takes its name from the Russian name for the boreal forest. The 25-year-old Nika Roza Danilova explains: “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.”
Taiga is Zola Jesus’ fourth studio record, and was written on Vashon Island in Washington. Here’s more on the upcoming album:
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.”
Check out “Dangerous Days” below, as well as a video trailer for Taiga…
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