Los Angeles-by-way-of-Madison goth visionary Nika Roza Danilova will follow up the pair of breakthrough EPs she released last year as Zola Jesus with a new LP, Conatus, on Oct. 4, but you can stream the album now on the Guardian. And by "can," I really mean "should." It's a remarkable record, one that continues Danilova's turn from experimental horror music toward warm, emotionally direct pop. Funny that one of the year's most romantic albums was recorded by a girl who once mostly sang about violent, gory apocalypses.
On the Guardian site, Danilova also shares short background stories for each song, and they're of the sort I like to imagine Robert Smith might have penned to describe his early-'80s output. "Written after complete emotional exhaustion," she writes of the track "Hikikomori." "The only thing keeping me together at this point was a terrible bliss I felt from being alone."
