When Nika Danilova was a girl, she wanted to be an opera singer. “I think my lit-tle baby toddler mind-heard some opera song and became fixated on how powerful it sounded,” she told Pitchfork in 2009.

On Conatus, her third studio album as nu-goth rock persona Zola Jesus, Danilova delivers a haunting testament to just how powerful — and versatile — the human voice can be. Where it once struggled to surface a sea of layered reverb, Danilova’s icy croon glides atop the cleanly-pro-duced synth stabs of opener “Swords,” quickly shifting the ominous mood of the song with breezy, uplifting har-monies.“Ixode,” with its subtle, arpeggiating keyboard and repetitive bass line, finds Danilova emulating a gothic Stevie Nicks — her aggres-sive, almost southern-tinged melodies cascading out in multiple counter-rhythms.

On “Lick the Palms of the Burning Handshake,” easily the most powerful song on Conatus, Danilova’s sorrowful, full-on popstar wail weaves in and out of a minimal electronic drum-beat, rising to a triumphant, orchestral coda.

 And as if Conatus wasn’t eerie enough, “Seekir” sweeps ghostly tribal chants into a disconcerting ’80s pop groove, amounting to a sort of Lynchian cover of Yaz’s “Situation (Move Out).” The song then shifts abruptly toward a frightening, vocals-in-reverse outro. While Conatus doesn’t explore much more stylis-tic ground than last year’s equally disturbing Stridulum II, Danilova’s vocal command will send chills down your spine as dreams turn into beautiful, sonic nightmares.