Animalia

A Mouth Full of Teeth as an album title hints at the ferocity and sharpness of Jill Krasnicki’s debut full-length as Animalia. Yet it comes from a lyric that presents itself more as meek and overwhelmed: “A mouth full of teeth and I can’t speak, the emptiness can be stifling.” The music is strong and unrelenting, but the emotional core of the album is beaten-down, resigned. Certainly not music for smiling and skipping down the street.

The first impression of the album is of a powerful and moody electronic record, but there is actually a lot of range demonstrated in these eight songs. “Forgotten” is orchestrated essentially just with a piano, demonstrating the power of her evocative voice. A voice that she is capable of throwing into different situations with different outcomes, sounding at once like Bjork on “Stifling” and Julianna Barwick in the opening of “What Do you Want”. And she does slow and sombre just as well as she does heavily-digitized and haunted.

There’s a lot of resentment and hopelessness expressed in the lyrics, from bitterness about someone only reaching out when everything is going wrong, to emotionally gray giving up and checking out interpersonally. If you’re going to end up destroying everything eventually, you might as well accept it.

The oddest song on the record (“Space Penetration 2000”), incidentally a cover, ends with a gradual build-up of tempo and the repeated phrase: “I have just created something totally illogical.” A Mouth Full of Teeth doesn’t follow any formula or logical pattern, but that’s what makes it interesting. Each song includes twists that make it stand out from the rest, which ends up making Kasnicki’s talent itself stand out.

The lyrics may be haunted, a fact reflected in the disembodied hand grasping at her hair in the album photo. But it’s you that will end up haunted as these songs work their way into your brain. - Elena Gritzan

Tasmania-bred artist Jill Krasnicki (aka Animalia) has released two EPs since she moved to Toronto. Both used subtle electronica and vocal layering to add interest to her guitar-plucked songs. Despite those flourishes, though, they were still very much rooted in folk.

But on her debut album, Krasnicki has done away with the guitar altogether in favour of dark electronica: throbbing beats, heavy synths and spooky reverb. Where her EPs were pretty (eerie, moving pretty, not cutesy, one-dimensional pretty), the album is fearless and edgy, both lyrically and sonically.

Krasnicki completely goes for it vocally. She sounds a lot like Dolores O’Riordan but is unafraid of experimentation or sounding raw. She’s primal on Stifling, low and husky on Agitated, she wails and then breathlessly chants on Space Penetration 2000 and is totally serene and languid on Firebug (a song that calls Sigur Rós to mind).

The standout, Cosmic Swaying, palpitates with tribal drums and supernatural whispers. - Julia LeConte

“I have been waiting for Animalia’s album, A Wave to Wash the World Away, to come into my life…” - Zeesy Powers - Offerings magazine

Animalia is the moniker of Jill Krasnicki, a Toronto-based artist (by way of Tasmania) who made some noise last year with her debut EP, To the Waking, the Shaking & the Volatile. Her latest release, A Wave to Wash the World Away, reveals an impressive knack for crafting urgent folk songs complimented by flourishes of synths and percussion. The album’s biggest draw is Krasnicki’s voice, which channels the purposeful tone of early Sinead O’Connor but adds a worldly resonance that is distinctly her own. The entire EP is strong, but the opener “Trees,” with its tense glitches followed by string-swept solace, is the best indication that Animalia is a name you’ll hear more about soon. - The Coast

Born in Australia, Animalia, aka Jill Krasnicki, now lives in Toronto. Her powerful voice is reminiscent of Irish songbirds Sinead O’Connor and Dolores O’Riordan, and she brings the same intense artistry to her work that made her predecessors famous. Blending stunning vocals with the acoustic guitar, her siren songs lure listeners into strange places.

With a stage name inspired by her love of animals, (Animalia is defined as “the realm of animals or the animal kingdom”), and an avid Vegan lifestyle, it is no surprise that nature plays a vital role in her sound, imbuing it with mystery, and aural surprises.

The faintly disturbing, “The Trees,” conjures up shadowy rain soaked images. Unexpected rumbles of thunder crackles in, “Worth It,” adding visceral texture to poignant lyrics about love and sacrifice, and the haunting and disquieting song, “Swimming” leaves you with a feeling of foreboding. The longing for freedom that weaves its way throughout the album reaches its end point in the somewhat more upbeat, “Lovely.” A track that suggests that destruction is sometimes the path to true freedom.

A musical ice-berg, A Wave to Wash the World Away, reveals that even within a deceptively tiny album massive beauty can lie beneath. - The Winehouse Mag

“From a whisper to a scream Jill Krasnicki aka Animalia sings with passion and conviction her consciousness-raising songs.” - Sook-Yin Lee - Sook-Yin Lee

"Dark, melancholic overtures reveal the wise of a reflective young artist with big views."
Laura Phillips - Toronto Music Scene - Toronto Music Scene