Staff Editor on August 7th, 2022

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Zola Jesus, aka Nika Roza Danilova, played her first L.A. show since 2018 on Saturday night at the Lodge Room. In support of her recently released album “Arkhon,” Danilova delivered a powerful set even though at the start she asked nervously, “Hmm … What am I doing on this stage?” In return, the crowd yelled back, “We missed you! … You’re beautiful!”

To start the set, her band started the mysterious opening notes of “Lost” and then she entered the stage cocooned in a red sheer netting. The ’80s rock vibe “Undertow” asked the audience to “Take all you know, oh, oh / Into the undertow, oh, oh / If you let it go, oh, oh / It will give you what you want, oh, oh.” It is a sentiment that is reflected in the crafting of the new album where Danilova — now back in her native Wisconsin after a long period in Los Angeles — was stuck with writer’s block and made the decision to reach out to others for help.

Under the red lights of the Lodge Room, “Dead & Gone” had the floors shaking. “Exhumed” had her shaking her fists with force. To end the main part of the set, “Sewn” had one member of the audience inspired to hold up the devil’s horns hand gesture. It must have caught Danilova’s attention, because she returned the hand sign as she exited the stage. The audience wasn’t going to let her go so easily into the night with loud demands for an encore. She returned with the keyboard-driven ballad “Desire” and some final thoughts for the audience, “If you see the light, carry the torch.”

Opening the night was White Boy Scream. The set started with opera vocals layered above a dissonance track that would have pleased Arnold Schoenberg himself. The band blended their songs together into a lengthy track and it wasn’t until their cover of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” that you realized the band had played over half their songs. They closed out the night with “Apolaki,” a song that had ancient vibes as the lyrics “Apolaki” and “They can’t erase me” were looped.

Zola Jesus’ setlist: Lost, The Fall, Undertow, Soak, Hikikomori, Dead & Gone, In Your Nature, Witness, Night, Vessel, Exhumed, Sewn. Encores: Desire, Do That Anymore

Photos and recap by Notes From Vivace