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There is a way a voice can cut through the fascia of reality, cleaving through habit into the raw nerve of experience. Nika Roza Danilova, the singer, songwriter, and producer who since 2009 has released music as Zola Jesus, wields a voice that does that. When you hear it, it is like you are being summoned -- not to somewhere new, but to a place that\'s already wrapped inside you, somewhere previously obscured from conscious experience. This place has been buried because it tends to hold pain, but it\'s also a gift, because once it\'s opened, once you\'re inside of it, it can show you the truth.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Nika\\u2019s newest album \\u201cArkhon\\u201d
• Accepting the past and exploring the unknown
• How her life drastically changed after the release of her album \\u201cOkovi\\u201d in 2017
• Her journey creating her albums: Taiga, Okovi, and Arkhon
• \\u201cWhen you\\u2019re trying to make music to fit into a world that already exists. It\\u2019s much less interesting.\\u201d - Nika
• Problems with viewing one\\u2019s art within the lens of commerce and commercial viability
• Having confidence in one\\u2019s own unique process
• The healing powers of meditation
• Having full faith and trust in the muse
• Transcendental Meditation
• Creating music in isolation
• The Definite Chief Aim
• Losing touch with one\\u2019s internal dialogue
• Cultivating purpose
• Returning to nature to understand that we are part of a greater ecosystem
• Human hubris
• Being mindful of how one expends their energy\\xa0
• Changing the world through our artistic contributions
• Being completely honest with oneself
• Subverting the algorithm
• Defining success and value for ourselves
• Exploring ideas surrounding monetary success and prosperity
• \\u201cIf you could only have a couple of things in your life, what would they be?\\u201d - Nika
• Existentialism
• \\u201cI want to focus on my experience. Not on how other people are experiencing me.\\u201d - Nika

People / Artists Mentioned:

1. Alex DeGroot (Producer & Musician)
2. David Lynch (Filmmaker)
3. Andrei Tarkovsky (Director)
4. Mitch Horowitz (Writer)
5. Jesse Draxler (Artist)
6. Napolean Hill (Writer)
7. Margaret Atwood (Writer)
8. Joan Didion\\xa0(Writer)

Books Mentioned:

1. \\u201cCatching The Big Fish\\u201d by David Lynch
2. \\u201cThe Body Keeps The Score\\u201d by\\xa0Bessel van der Kolk
3. \\u201cDaydream Believer\\u201d by Mitch Horowitz
4. \\u201cThe White Album\\u201d by Joan Didion
5. \\xa0\\u201cThe Year of Magical Thinking\\u201d by Joan Didion

Films Mentioned:

1. Arrival (2016)
2. Don\\u2019t Look Up (2021)

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