Zola Jesus: Conatus – review

(Souterrain Transmissions)Operatic wailing and sinister synths: for the love of Siouxsie Sioux, there's a lot of it going around. Zola Jesus's follow-up to 2010's Stridulum II doesn't scrub off the heavy eyeliner – it features a song called Lick the Palm of the Burning Handshake – but it does reflect Nika Danilova's newly honed ear for a soaring moment, particularly on Avalanche, which crashes in after a short, misleadingly ambient and experimental opener. Conatus is more fully formed than i...

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