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Sacred Bones Records

Okovi

by Zola Jesus

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dsuber3
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dsuber3 one of my favorite albums of its year. dark, dramatic, achingly empathetic, and just sounds great all around, especially the strings. hard to pick a fave between Soak and Siphon Favorite track: Siphon.
Alice M.
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Alice M. “Exhumed” hit me *absurdly* hard in the face from the start.
It’ll probably never happen, but a The Body × Zola Jesus collaboration would be absolutely insane.
spiros_metsouggis
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spiros_metsouggis This may be one of the most effectively healing records released since 2017, the songs ooze empathy and sincere emotion. She is also a very commanding stage performer, I remember being rather transfixed while watching her some years ago. I hope she'll deliver more goodies in 2021! Favorite track: Soak.
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Okovi via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Okovi via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $19 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Japanese version of Okovi with obi-strip

    Includes unlimited streaming of Okovi via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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    Purchasable with gift card

      $16 USD or more 

     

  • Limited Edition Rust Color Vinyl LP
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Rust-colored vinyl limited to 4000 units worldwide.

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    Sold Out
1.
Doma 02:14
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2.
Exhumed 03:45
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3.
Soak 03:57
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4.
Ash to Bone 02:07
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5.
Witness 04:01
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6.
Siphon 03:49
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7.
Veka 05:13
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8.
Wiseblood 04:38
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9.
NMO 00:56
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10.
Remains 04:26
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11.
Half Life 04:49
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about

For over a decade, Nika Roza Danilova has been recording music as Zola Jesus. She’s been on Sacred Bones Records for most of that time, and Okovi marks her reunion with the label.

Fittingly, the 11 electronics-driven songs on Okovi share musical DNA with her early work on Sacred Bones. The music was written in pure catharsis, and as a result, the sonics are heavy, dark, and exploratory. In addition to the contributions of Danilova’s longtime live bandmate Alex DeGroot, producer/musician WIFE, cellist/noise-maker Shannon Kennedy from Pedestrian Deposit, and percussionist Ted Byrnes all helped build Okovi’s textural universe.

With Okovi, Zola Jesus has crafted a profound meditation on loss and reconciliation that stands tall alongside the major works of its genre. The album speaks of tragedy with great wisdom and clarity. Its songs plumb dark depths, but they reflect light as well.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Last year, I moved back to the woods in Wisconsin where I was raised. I built a little house just steps away from where my dilapidated childhood tree fort is slowly recombining into earth.  Okovi was fed by this return to roots and several very personal traumas.

While writing Okovi, I endured people very close to me trying to die, and others trying desperately not to. Meanwhile, I was fighting through a haze so thick I wasn’t sure I’d find my way to the other side. Death, in all of its masks, has been encircling everyone I love, and with it the questions of legacy, worth, and will.

Okovi is a Slavic word for shackles. We’re all shackled to something—to life, to death, to bodies, to minds, to illness, to people, to birthright, to duty. Each of us born with a unique debt, and we have until we die to pay it back.  Without this cost, what gives us the right to live? And moreover, what gives us the right to die? Are we really even free to choose?

This album is a deeply personal snapshot of loss, reconciliation, and a sympathy for the chains that keep us all grounded to the unforgiving laws of nature. To bring it to life, I decided to enlist the help of Alex DeGroot, who has been the only constant in my live band and helped mix the Stridulum EP back in 2010. It will be released on Sacred Bones, the closest group of people I’ll ever have to blood-bound family.

credits

released September 8, 2017

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about

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Zola Jesus Merrill, Wisconsin

Zola Jesus signed to Sacred Bones in 2008. In the seven years that followed, we released eight albums together (three LPs, two EPs, two 7”s, a CD-R, and even a DVD). We discovered her via Myspace, which was the common A&R vehicle of the early- to mid-Aughts. Nika is the sole member of Zola Jesus. ... more

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