News / / 30.08.13

ZOLA JESUS & JG THIRLWELL FT. MIVOS QUARTET

VERSIONS (Sacred Bones)

13/20

Experimental chanteuse Zola Jesus and industrial music pioneer JG Thirlwell, better known as Foetus, joined forces with the celebrated Mivos Quartet last year for a performance at New York’s Guggenheim. This new album presents studio versions of these appropriations. Stripped to their skeletal forms, Jesus’s songs are built around tender orchestration, minimal drum machine patterns and that delicate but soulful voice. The results carry an emotional weight that transforms into a heady, but ultimately intense experience. Both artists may be renowned for their unorthodox approaches, but there is very little out of the ordinary going on here. Essentially a classical record, a rich melodic vein runs throughout. Gone are the synths which make up the backbone of Zola’s back catalogue, strings taking the lead. But the tone still remains playful, occasionally hitting bum notes for kicks as heard in the epic Fall Back and the last note of opener Avalanche (Slow) with its brooding cello blanket and violin arpeggios. At her best Zola can come over like Kate Bush at her most ethereal, yet an entire album of preening melodrama becomes somewhat wearing. Despite standout tracks Run Me Out and Sea Talk hitting real highs, an overall absence of genuine character abounds.

 

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Words: Philip James Allen

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