The art rock band Zola Jesus, fronted by Russian singer (and probably dancer) Nika Roza Danilova gave quite a performance at the Sala Rossa yesterday night, in front of enthusiastic fans: most of them were swept away and danced eyes closed after 10 minutes of concert.

Danilova has a strong stage presence. Like a black priestess conducting an energic mass where the music dynamics go from mysterious to stroboscopic, she dances, crawls, jumps, runs although the songs, completely living the moment. It’s almost a modern dance performance, built in the concert.

zola jesus live montreal 2015

photo: Nico Pelletier, RREVERB

Two low-profile keyboardists and a drummer were in charge of the music, creating the canvas Danilova needed to express herself. Influences seem to come from NIN, PJ Harvey’s gothic years (or Diamands Galas’), a darker version of Lykke Li, with a glimpse of Florence + the Machine in the way both singers lead the show. Pretty cool performance even though songs, at first glance in concert, sounded pretty much the same one from another. An intense trip!

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About The Author

Mélomane invétéré plongeant dans tous les genres et époques, Nicolas Pelletier a publié 6 000 critiques de disques et concerts depuis 1991, dont 1100 chez emoragei magazine et 600 sur enMusique.ca, dont il a également été le rédacteur en chef de 2009 à 2014. Il publie "Les perles rares et grands crus de la musique" en 2013, lance le site RREVERB en 2014, et devient stratège numérique des radios de Bell Média en 2015, participant au lancement de la marque iHeartRadio au Canada en 2016. Il dirige maintenant la stratégie numérique d'ICI Musique, la radio musicale de Radio-Canada.