Copenhagen / Cologne-based songwriter (and former student of Jenny Hval) Zola Mennenöh joins Shahzad Ismaily's figureight records for the release of her eloquent debut album Longing for Belonging. Known - and highly in demand - as a session musician in her native Germany and her adoptive second homes in Denmark and Norway, Zola Mennenöh is a singer, guitarist, flautist and sound artist of huge talent. She has toured the world over, specialising in jazz, improvisation and experimental & avant garde choral music, both as a performer and as composer. It is through this experience and years of honing that Longing for Belonging comes into existence. Her debut solo album is a collection of delicate treasures: graceful, expressive and elegantly poised, exploring the great depth of her abilities as a musician and the cultured poetry of her lyrics. Zola's music touches on pastoral alternative folk, while splashes of classical decoration (such as the yearningly beautiful sea of undulating woodwind at the end of "I Will Always Be Yours, Forever") and melodic licks borrowed from jazz help illuminate unexpected corners. There is, in abundance, a songwriting sophistication in the mold of PJ Harvey or Beth Orton, a Southern Gothic shadow comparable to Neko Case and Nina Nastasia, and an omnivorous musical awareness that could stand alongside Cat Power's varied arrangements. Thematically, the album meditates on the search and discovery of personal and emotional unity. "It is an attempt to encounter and ultimately become one's true self," Zola writes. The record is largely performed by a core quartet of Zola, Nicole Hogstrand (viola da gamba), Johanna Borchert (prepared piano) and Szymon Pimpon Gasiorek (drumkit / percussion).