Zola Jesus releases new single "Desire"

After announcing Arkhon with the lead single "Lost" last month, Zola Jesus has returned with a second outing from the record titled "Desire", which is teamed with a A.F. Cortes-directed video.

Zola Jesus, real name Nika Roza Danilova, said of the new release, ""Desire" was written in one sitting at my piano at home. The song was an exorcism for my pain and lack of closure around heartbreak. Sometimes songs are written simply for the cathartic effect of playing them. This is one of those songs. Performing it feels like the most tangible way to experience that closure for myself. Some days I would sit at home playing this song over and over on my piano, just to provide myself that sense of control over what I was feeling. I recorded the song at the studio in one take, and also got video while I was there to document the memory of the performance. The footage of that day is the core of the video for "Desire"."

Arkhon will follow Zola Jesus' 2017 album Okovi. Zola Jesus worked on the new album with producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))) and drummer and percussionist Matt Chamberlain.

"When I look back at my work, I see there's a theme where I fixate on my fear of the unknown," Danilova said. "That really came into fruition for this record, because I had to let go of so much control. I had to surrender to whatever the outcome would be. That used to be really hard for me, and now I had no other choice."

Danilova added of the album title, "Arkons are a Gnostic idea of power wielded through a flawed god. They taint and tarnish humanity, keeping them corrupted instead of letting them find their harmonious selves. I do feel like we are living in an arkhonic time; these negative influences are weighing extremely heavy on all of us. We're in a time of arkhons. There's power in naming that."