The high school I went to was pretty much "Goth High". Oh sure, there were some hippies and punks, and in later days, some ravers attended, but for the most part, The Cure, Siousxie and Bauhaus t-shirts outnumbered even those that said Nirvana (Bleach-era, natch). Pearl Jam was an obnoxious joke at my too cool for school, school. People knew Nine Inch Nails for more than just that "Fuck You Like an Animal" song. I definitely wasn't into goth. It was too serious, and made drinking Slurpees and eating entire cans of Pringles impossible, or at least ridiculous (seriously, have you ever seen a goth drinking soda pop? I saw a head-to-toe-(including a fucking top hat)-black drinking Mountain Dew once, and the hypocrisy made me want to scream in his pasty white sombre face). Goth was always too serious and wrapped up in its own culture for me to take an interest. The furthest to the darkness I ever went was with Suicide and maybe that Shakespeare's Sister joint.
That's why it's surprising that I'm digging Zola Jesus. I feel it has a lot to do with her maturity and her seriousness. She's 20 or 21, comes from Wisconsin, got hooked up with Former Ghosts, and sounds little like her peers. Sure, the other girls may also evoke '80s themes, but they all do so in a clownish and mocking way, whereas Zola Jesus (not her name, but her moniker) is passionate and articulate on her jams. She makes musical music, and that's worth something. Most of the cuts off of Stridulum have an epic buildup that envisions me at the show with tears streaming down my face, fist pumping and head slowly swaying back and forth to the slow building crescendo and dénouement - I'm so angry at... everything.
Apparently she's a trained opera singer, but I don't really see the influence, as she doesn't seem to do any impressive breath control or over the top scales or whatever it is that an opera background would enable you to do. Sure, her voice is haunting and she can hold a note, and it can leave you with chills, but it's not operatic. Youtube (Broadcast Yourself), has videos of her recent performance at SXSW, but her show was outdoors, in the daytime, and in the blazing sun. The irony is too much for me. If you're serious about your goth, it should be too much for you too.
