As a kid growing up in rural Wisconsin, Nika Roza Danilova wanted to sing opera, but youthful insecurities and performance anxiety kept the diminutive singer from finding her voice. By her late teens, Danilova found it instead in the dark and brooding worlds of goth and experimental synth-rock. In 2006, she began writing and performing as Zola Jesus, and in the past two years unleashed a torrent of intense, mesmerizing songs on three EPs and three full-length albums, including this fall's Conatus.