Nika amazes me. Every album, every video, every song just totally blows me away.  Her voice is one of the most stunning voices around. Her sound is so distinctive and powerful. It shakes your soul and wakes up that part of you that yo allowed to become quiet and untouched for so long.

Vessel is the first single to be taken from her latest album, Conatus. If you don’t own it- the hell are you playing at? One of the best albums of they year, easily. A lot of artists go with having a dark vibe to their music in order to seem “cool” or something daft. Thing is, it’s a natural thing. Having a dark sound is natural, you cannot force it. Real recognises real. The true Zola Jesus fans are the ones who believe in the power of her music and know that it is all natural. When you have such a natural approach to your work, you become believable. You become something to invest in.

The video is stunning. The imagery is just perfect, it fits the song completely. Nika doesn’t have to do over the top videos nor does she have to be overproduced to be popular. You can tell she doesn’t care for fitting in- THAT is what makes her easy to relate to. You see, you have artists such as Gaga who bang on and on about “EMBRACE BEING A FREAK!” Fuck that, for serious, just fuck that. Just be who you are, you don’t need to always be the centre of attention to be loved. You don’t have to turn it into a self-absorbed show and demand attention. That doesn’t make you real. You’re just masking it. That’s why I love Nika, she just makes music for her and doesn’t demand attention. Yes she’s different- but we all are. She doesn’t need to go on about it. She has a human touch to her music that many seem to lack.

The video is artistic and dark; but not in a pretentious way nor does it seem like she’s trying too hard. It’s just perfect, she’s perfect.