Zola Jesus & JG Thirlwell – Versions

Zola Jesus, aka experimental musician and songwriter Nika Rosa Danilova, collaborated with veteran producer Foetus, aka JG Thirlwell, on these neo-classical arrangements of her understated, gothic electronic compositions for a show at New York's Guggenheim. These tracks, the studio versions of their collaborations, take her melancholic, cinematic songwriting and strip away the more experimental aspects, revealing the fragile and intense songwriting at their core.

Thirlwell, who has worked with a plethora of artists from Nine Inch Nails to Pantera and Swans, brings an assured touch to the clean, beautifully-produced tracks, for the most part simply stripping away the drums and synths and replacing them with gorgeous, towering string arrangements. Danilova's voice is also placed front and centre, elevated out of the miasmic wash of the original productions to stand naked and bold. For fans, it will prove an emotive experience; the uninitiated may want to explore the original renditions before approaching Versions. [Bram E. Gieben]