Versions

The unlikely collaboration of Zola Jesus with experimental Australian musician JG Thirlwell was always going to be a risky partnership. Versions never once plays it safe; it is an epic revamp of a handful of tracks from Conatus and Stridulum II (save for one original song, ‘Fall Back’), which has set itself the ambitious challenges of tampering with much-loved singles such as ‘Sea Talk’, while also freshening up some of the less memorable album tracks. The result is a far-from-perfect effort, but even so, it does hit more often than it misses. The album’s greatest virtue is that Nika Roza Danilova’s extraordinary voice – usually caked in effects – is finally unbound to take centre stage. Conversely, Versions’ greatest vice is that almost every re-imagined track, though beautiful in its own way, tends to pale in the towering shadow of its punchier original.

The eminence of Danilova’s vocal – paired with a handful of the most lyrically rich songs Zola Jesus has produced – isolates the speaking voice as a central theme, often at the expense of the lashings of reverb and industrial bite that has characterised the artist’s discography thus far. The stunning poeticism of these lyrics, relieved of that weighty synthetic ambience, seem to gain a new significance and expressive flair. In terms of songwriting, for example, ‘Collapse’ is more satisfactory as an album closer in Versions than in Conatus. Here, the lyrics register a freshness of pain, without the palpable electronic texture that clouded such beautiful words as “In the citadel / Recall the pieces, the pieces”.

However, in this grand thematic shift towards voice and narrative, Versions loses some of the electronic grit which infused the originals, held together only by the bare bones of Thirlwell’s string quartet. ‘Run Me Out’ and ‘Night’ are glazed over by the swarm of sweeping strings, while the extra percussive edges to ‘Sea Talk’ and ‘In Your Nature’ are the only things redeeming them from the same fate.

The album’s greatest virtue is that Nika Roza Danilova’s extraordinary voice – usually caked in effects – is finally unbound to take centre stage.

In Versions, Zola Jesus toes a fragile line between lyrical and musical integrity. This balance is sustained most successfully in ‘Seekir’: the track that most obviously transcends its Conatus counterpart, and marks a moment where the new arrangement simultaneously breathes life into both the vocals and the surging energy of the music. Significantly, ‘Fall Back’, the only new track on the record, packs the biggest punch: a song with enough creative buoyance so as not to deflate in the roar of orchestral instrumentation. In fact, it may be the only track of Versions that truly exploits the climactic potential of the string quartet, with soaring and dipping dynamics and intricately explorative textures.

Not all of the arrangements on Versions are masterpieces, largely because they are haunted by the ghosts of their past selves. Ultimately, however, this new, orchestral foray cannot be deemed a waste of time, raising as it does some insightful questions about the interplay between music and lyrics, as well as providing listeners with the fantastic ‘Fall Back’. Versions is not immediately gratifying to listen to, but it is certainly true to say that the more one invests, the more one receives. It is an album which demands and rewards in equal measure.

Similar To: Gazelle Twin, Planningtorock

MP3: ‘Fall Back’, ‘Seekir’