Siouxsie Sioux fronting the xx? The goth Florence Welch? Twenty-one-year-old Midwesterner Zola Jesus (born Nika Roza Danilova) has crept into growing relevance thanks to her stentorian, yet soulful voice and austere electronic pop, pitched not at the crushed velvet crowd, but at hipster central. This latest European update of her recent short album (Stridulum I came out in the US last year) finds Jesus moving away from her avant-garde early recordings and embracing direct songwriting and pithier instrumentation, to arresting results. "Night" sounds like a monster hit waiting for an advert to launch it. KE
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Kitty Empire
Kitty Empire is the Observer's pop critic. She has written for NME and occasionally crops up on Radio 4, 5Live, BBC 6Music, and has appeared on BBC2's The Culture Show and Newsnight Review. @kittyempire666
Kitty Empire
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