Zola Jesus

Nika Roza Danilova (born Nicole Rose Hummel; April 11, 1989), known professionally by her stage name Zola Jesus, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Her music has been noted for combining elements of electronic, industrial, classical, and goth.

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, she spent her formative years in northern Wisconsin, where she began writing and recording music independently while attending college.

During her second year of studies, she released two singles through the independent label Sacred Bones, followed by two EPs.

Nicole Rose Hummel was born April 11, 1989, in Phoenix, Arizona, where she spent her early years.

Her parents are first-generation Americans, with combinations of Russian as well as German, Slovenian, and Ukrainian descent.

Her grandparents immigrated to the United States from Odesa, Ukraine, and settled in North Dakota.

Honoring her ancestry, she formally goes by her Slavic name, Nika Roza Danilova.

She has one older brother.

During her childhood, she and her family relocated to Merrill, Wisconsin, where they lived on a rural property situated in 100 acre of forest.

"I resented my parents for having moved me away from Phoenix because I thought Phoenix was much more interesting than Wisconsin," she said.

"It's a great place and it's very interesting there, beautiful."

She attended Wausau West High School, and after, enrolled at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee to study business.

She began recording music at home while still in college, using keyboards, drum machines and other instruments.

Her performing name, Zola Jesus, is a compound derived from the French writer Émile Zola, and the Christian messiah.

While studying at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she debuted the singles "Poor Sons" on Die Stasi and "Soeur Sewer", released in 2008 by Sacred Bones Records, after which she transferred to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Her debut album, The Spoils, was released in 2009.

In 2009, while still in college, she recorded her debut full-length The Spoils, released by Sacred Bones in July 2009.

In the late 2009 collaboration between Zola Jesus and Rory Kane took shape (as Nika+Rory), a demo being put out on MySpace.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, she released her second full-length record, Stridulum II (2010), followed by Conatus (2011).

In 2010, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a double major in French and philosophy.

Then followed Tsar Bomba EP (on Troubleman), New Amsterdam compilation on Sacred Bones and an untitled, limited-edition vinyl split with Burial Hex (Aurora Borealis).

For touring she recruited Dead Luke (synths), bassist Lindsay Mikkola and drummer Max Elliott.

Later the line-up changed to Shane Verwey and Nick Turco (synth), Alex DeGroot, and Nick Johnson, a drummer with metal band Jex Thoth.

Zola Jesus has also played with Former Ghosts.

On Fever Ray's 2010 European tour, she performed as a support act and also toured with The xx.

In March 2010, Zola Jesus released the Stridulum EP, named after the 1979 horror film of the same name by director Giulio Paradisi.

After the release Zola Jesus performed at the SXSW Festival, for her second time.

The same year, she issued a second EP, Valusia, also released on Sacred Bones.

In July 2010, a collaborative third EP LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus, was released.

A collaboration with Amanda Brown of Pocahaunted, this EP presented "a dingy, lower-than-lo-fi sound and very little of what one would call traditional songwriting," according to Larry Fitzmaurice of Pitchfork.

Danilova followed these three EPs with her second full-length album, Stridulum II, which was released in August 2010, one month after LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus.

This album marked her feature full-length release in the United Kingdom, combining all six songs from the Stridulum EP (in a different sequence), along with three of the four tracks on the Valusia EP; the cover artwork is a slightly altered version of the artwork from the Stridulum EP.

Laura Snapes of NME praised the album as a "gorgeously ethereal soundscape of a thousand years of heartbreak unleashed into one might howl."

Additionally, NME ranked it the seventh-best album of the year.

In 2011, Danilova began composing her third full-length studio album, Conatus, which she co-produced with Brian Foote of Jackie-O Motherfucker and Cloudland Canyon.

The album, released in September 2011 and named for the Latin word for "moving forward," featured less electronic components than Danilova's previous records, and included cello, double bass, violin, and viola.

"I just wanted to try out new ways to produce and different ways to write," Danilova commented.

Her fourth album, Taiga (2014), released by Mute Records, marked a departure from her previous releases, and featured a more prominent pop-influenced sound.

Her fifth studio album, Okovi, was released in 2017.