Zola Jesus is back with her sixth album, Arkhon, which will be out May 20 via Sacred Bones. Unlike previous albums, Danilova brought in collaborators early in the creative process, including Randall Dunn, who has worked with Sunn O))) and on Jóhann Jóhannsson’s score for the film Mandy, and drummer Matt Chamberlain (Fiona Apple, David Bowie). "When I look back at my work, I see there's a theme where I fixate on my fear of the unknown," says Danilova. "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."
The first single from the album is "Lost", a widescreen number full of pounding drums and a soaring chorus of voices. "It’s true. Everyone I know is lost. Lost hope, lost future, lost present, lost planet," Danilova says. "There is a collective disillusionment of our burning potential. As we stray further from nature, we drift from ourselves. ‘Lost’ is a sigil to re-discover our coordinates and claim a new path."
The video for "Lost" was directed by Mu Tunç and shot in the Cappadocia area of Turkey. "I wanted to shoot the video in a place that carried a lot of energy, with someone that I felt understood the spiritual backbone of the song," she says. "It was a surprisingly natural process to make this video with Mu Tunc in Turkey. I put my faith in him and in Cappadocia, a labyrinthine city built within 60 million-year-old caves. Throughout human history these caves have served as a citadel for so many different groups of people who went there to get lost. It is a testament to the resilience of humanity, and the durability of our earth."