Zola Jesus is the moniker of Nika Roza Danilova. On the same morning as the National release of Stridulum II, she speaks about the album, the history behind her stage name, her views on the opera singing style and the power of the Internet.

Hi Nika, how are you-

I’m good, how are you doing-

Pretty good, still a bit early for me though.

What time is it-

11 in the morning [laughs]

[Laughs] That’s not too early…

I’m just a late sleeper, late riser.

Ahh ok [Laughs], it’s about 5pm here

Anything interesting happen today-

I don’t think so, I’ve just been preparing to go to Europe which is a little sobering I guess.

When does the tour start-

Saturday

And which countries are you visiting-

Everywhere except Eastern Europe really. It’s going to be fun

Is this the first time you are going over-

No, this is my third time

Ahh. You are well travelled in that country

Yeah

How did the alias Zola Jesus come about-

I guess I was 14 and in high school going through a bookstore and it was the first time I discovered Émile Zola and decided to adopt it for my own.

Zola gives the alias somewhat of a feminine touch when placed next Jesus.

Yeah well Émile Zola the author was a man too..

How long have you been performing under that name-

I’ve been using the name since I was 14, so about 7 or 8 years.

What was the decision behind releasing Stridulum II as an addition to Stridulum I-

When I decided to release Stridulum in Europe I wanted to add more songs to it as the EP had already been out for about 6 months. So I decided to write some more songs for it to make it a complete album and give listeners something new. Especially because lots of people had already listened to it and heard it, so I wanted to offer people who hadn’t heard it to make it an album and for the people who had heard it there was something fresh.

I think especially here in Australia because not a lot of people have heard the first one it’s a suitable package for many of the people who haven’t heard it

Yeah I tried to make the new songs sound similar to Stridulum, so hopefully it stuck to my aim.

How long ago did you write the first part-

I wrote it last year, last October…November…December… Actually I wrote it in December.

And recorded earlier this year-

The first part was recorded at the same time and wrote the three new songs in April.

Because you’re a solo artist and the prominent thing that strikes me from your songs is your vocals, do you play a part in the production of the songs aswell.

Yeah I do everything. I write the music, I record it, I produce it. Sometime I have my friend help me mix it, so sometimes I credit him as a producer. But everything is done by me, I mean everything is done on a computer so I program it all myself.

What sort of programs are you using-

I use logic.

Is it all written on the computer to start with or do you first write it on a piano and translate it into the synthesisers-

I wish I had an acoustic piano! I play it on the keyboard and most of the time the songs stand up on it’s own without the electronics. It’s proving that a good song is universal. So usually I write a song on a keyboard and then try to translate it into the computer and add those sort of synthetic elements to it.

Because of the flexibility of the Digital Audio Workstations such as Logic, do you ever end up with multiple versions of songs with different instrumentation- An example is possibly "Lightsick", which may have used piano synthesisers. Is there a different version with the elements of your noise and industrial production in the vault-

No, that song was actually done on an acoustic upright piano that I had to hunt for where I live because I couldn’t get my hands on a real piano. There is another version of that song, I’ve thought about doing an electronic version of it but I don’t want to ruin its purity.

On the Australian Version of Stridulum II, there is a bonus track with the original version of Seatalk. How was that recorded as it sounds very lo-fi-

Yeah, that was Sea Talk in first incarnation that was released in 2008. It was recorded with a casio and a bunch of toys; keyboards and things like that. Hooked them up to a distortion pedal and then into a four track. The new one though is done all in logic.

Have you been playing with the production side of your music for as long as you have been singing-

No, not at all. I wrote Stridulum basically the week I got logic and it was the first sort of software to make music. It was a learning process and a lot of the songs were crude and the song writing was kind of suffering because I didn’t know how to do a lot of things in Logic, so I just made it work. Since then I’ve learned a bit more but I still feel kind of handicapped when ever I work in that software.

Do you have a nice little studio/MIDI set up at home-

Not right now because I just moved and I am in the process of moving again. So I don’t have a studio set up but when I move I plan to start building and getting more equipment.

Where do you do the majority of your writing, on the road or in-between tours-

It’s always in-between, it’s hard to write on tour because I build my relationship with music around my voice so intuitively when I’m writing a song it’s really based on what I’m singing.  So for respect of the people I’m touring with in the van, I don’t like to work on songs then. [Laughs]

The songs come across as very personal and autobiographical, is it a true reflection of yourself as a person when you listen to songs-

Yeah the songs are extremely honest, personal and every song means something. They tend to all mean kind of all mean similar things because I only had one thing on my mind when I was writing that record. So yeah I think they are a little bit almost my own inner thoughts. I feel like when your thinking to yourself you’re not thinking and saying it, you’re thinking about the way you speak. I like to speak very simply and that’s how I said it. I tried to be humble about it.

What is the definition for Stridulum-

I got the title from a movie that came out in 1979, I loved the movie a lot and I wanted to kind of tribute the movie. But at the same time I like that it didn’t really mean anything and I’ve looked it up but it doesn’t really have much meaning beyond that.

So it is strictly a movie title-

I think it might be Latin, but it is quite hard to find. The closest I was to finding the meaning was of Stridulum in Latin was the sound of a bird or a insect rubs its wings together…I think. That is about as far as I got, but I think its really pretty and I liked the ambiguity of the term.

Another thing I noticed was the difference between the covers for the Stridulum II here and in America. What the story behind the person with that liquid on their face and what is it-!

Chocolate and it’s me!

Oh! It’s you is it, are you wearing a mask under the chocolate-

[Laughs] Yeah it is, it is just chocolate syrup

Are there any future plans to come to Australia-

I hope so, I’d love to come over there.

No immediate plans as of yet-

I think maybe next year 2011 or 2012, if we make it that far.

Is the band that backs you a revolving door of musicians or are they a tight group that’s been playing with you for a while-

It’s always been kind of revolving and usually work with people I’m close to and can trust with everything and with especially my music.

I was wondering who your musical influences are

Mmm, I don’t know that is a hard question. I don’t want to be a elitist and say I have no influences.

From listening to your music and going on to recommend it to friends, I find it difficult to make comparisons and say you are like another artist and so forth.

Well that’s the thing I think, why make music if your going to make it sound like someone else. If your going to have this intention then why don’t you not make music and just listen to whoever you want to sound like. Because its already been done you know- Everyone has their own personality and their own style, when someone sits down to play an instrument or even a singer. They have a certain style that comes out, it’s really unique and distinctive. I like to stay true to that.

But back to the question its all elements of everything I like. Noise and industrial but I also like soul and also pop music. Even funk and dance as well.

How old where you when you started singing-

I started studying voice when I was about 8 or 9, somewhere around there.

What made you want to be an opera/classical style singer rather than singing in a more contemporary style-

I just figured if I am going to be a singer, I am going to be a singer. If you want to do something you want to be the best at it and pop singing I have always thought of it as not correct and your not the best singer if you sing like that. If you sing opera your trained and technically you’re a very good singer. I never really gave that a thought because singing opera was like the classical way to study something and to me had a little more legitimacy than pop music.

Do you still take singing lessons these days-

I’ve taken a couple of lessons since everything happened with Zola Jesus but I’ve moved to Los Angeles and am very far away from my old voice teacher. But I would love to continue them because I am starting to lose my opera voice, though I try to keep practicing it.

What’s coming up in the future for you, is there an album on the way that is written in one part compared to Stridulum-

I am going to finish this tour, which ends in the winter here in December. Then I like to think I will take a break but I am going to start writing and recording the next record which is anything but a break. That should be coming out next year mid 2011 and then I will be touring again.

And for my final question for someone who is a fairly new, how do you see the power of the Internet in helping the unknown artists get their name out there-

I think there is definitely something to be said about the way the Internet can help. I don’t think I would have got this far on an independent label had it been 1995. I also feel like it suits someone like me who doesn’t like to leave the house very much or wheel and deal to make this happen for myself. So yeah I think the power of the Internet is very real. At the same time I think you have to want it bad enough and just because you have that voice on the Internet you are going to be heard, because the competition has been opened up so early and anyone with a computer and access to the internet. So it definitely makes the competition a lot harder.

Thank you very much for time

Thank you, have a good morning

Enjoy your European tour and hopefully you will be over next year

Thanks, I hope so too.