Julia Holter

xp well i definitely prefer this to all slapdash indie pop, yes

i like the mannered, formal feel to an extent, but it never steps outside that for me

branwell otm, mannered is the word I have used to describe it. although it's not as intense or theatrical as her previous, which is what I thought I valued most about JH, it retains that sense of poise and dignity. it's close to being boring but it brings that neat apollonian satisfaction and freshness

yeah that's a great description, branwell. this album is extremely immersive. it's like... when i listen to this album i go into this album.

there is something extremely pure about her voice so that it hits me directly into the heart. and the album is really of one piece, not one average song, it unfolds slowly which makes it even more memorable. ethereal is the word i'd use to describe her voice which is perfectly wrapped into the impressionist music with slight jazz echoes. this is definitely a night album and it should be great to see her perform the songs in the berghain on thursday, the club in which you forget if it is night or day time as it is always dark there. i was there once and it felt like a cathedral - the main room is at least 12 meters high - which should fit perfectly with this music. not sure what you mean by mannered, branwell, in a way each piece of art is mannered as it is not natural but that is a red herring. immersive on the other hand suits well, it is very difficult to escape this music when it is played, not that i'd want to...

rethinking about this album, i think it is my no. 2 this year. in front of destroyer and second only to the incredible apartments album.

I am curious as to what Holter fans would make of Jane Siberry's more abstract efforts like "The Bird In The Gravel".

http://youtu.be/zBqmRm2SwxE

Mannered and formal can be hard to do well.

I am still/increasingly captivated by this album, so many moments of pure magic.

Like how on "Everytime Boots" the country-pop shuffle gets moored on this reef of eerie, disorienting strings and you think it's never going to make it back to harbour, but somehow it does.

Just saw her in the berghain. She and her band (viola, bass and drums) were great. In a way she reminded me of margaret o 'hara. Her voice is so unbelievably expressive. I think she loved the place. And she is rig ht. The berghain is absolutely amazing. in the beginning after the first song she played older more experimental stuff i didn't know before which was good. Then she played more or less the whole album. She gave two encores. During the concert i realised what a beautiful instrument the viola can be. Usually i am not too much into strings but here the viola was phantastic. There was also a little bit of laurie anderson in her performance.

I thought about MMOH in relation to this record too, but mostly triggered by a few tiny little viola?/violin? touches that shares the same wild, yearning quality as the fiddle playing on Miss America.

One thing that niggles me is a little melodic echo of blur's 'the universal' that I keep catching in 'feel you'

Trying to explain what I mean by "mannered and formal" in a good sense. I'm not so good with putting things into words, so I'm going to try pictures.

This is a garden bench:

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/garden-journal-09/garden-bench-rhododendron.jpg

This is a mannered and formal garden bench:

http://media.cdn-redfin.com/photo/68/bigphoto/437/08164437_2_0.jpg

I'm not drawing conclusions about which is more beautiful, because both are very beautiful, in different styles. But there's this beautiful precision and skill and restraint to this record, even though there are touches of wildness that burst through the formal qualities and make it even more lovely.

She's playing in Glasgow soon but it's sold out :(

branwell otm

I'm not so good with putting things into words

this is nonsense btw

But there's this beautiful precision and skill and restraint to this record, even though there are touches of wildness that burst through the formal qualities and make it even more lovely.

Totally OTM.

I often feel like we see mannerism and restraint as a kind of force that gives shape to other things, like a breeze creating ripples on a pond. Each of Holter's records find a different point of accommodation between a variety of impulses, and I would not at all be surprised if she thinks very carefully about her records as different conversations between countervailing tendencies.

This is probably the first of them where songform and songfulness is one of those tendencies, rather than something that gets produced as a byproduct of other conversations.

Loud City Song, for instance, doesn't strike me as being about songs, but perhaps about the chanteuse-performance, which necessarily involves some interrogation of song-form at a second order level.

She was pretty good in an old music hall in London last night, not the most confident of live performers and the size of her band meant she had to strip down the arrangements on several songs that on record are notable for their lushness. But the sparser songs that really fitted with the on-stage setup (Vasquez, Have You In My Wilderness) were incredible.

i enjoyed the lack of polish in her onstage between-song banter in brighton the other night. sang snatches of roxy music and orinoco flow among other things, all very endearing. but yeah vasquez was a surprise standout - at least i think it was that which had an earthy violin/drums/bass coda that made me think of some 70s island records fairport-ish brit-folk thing

new gorgeously dreamy video for "silhouette:"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8_ZWlOKsUQ

hey this album is really cleaning up the year-end lists! and all of my favorite people are here talking about it! i forgot to give it a shot prob bc i didn't really care for loud city song. what i've heard is super lovely

Report back!

yeah i love this. as stated throughout this thread this is her most immediate record and parts of it are still kinda elusive to me, her sense of rhythm is sometimes really strange and displaced which is something that both pulls me in and sometimes leaves me feeling adrift.

the instrumentation on this record is super gorgeous and feels so deliberate that you really appreciate the choices she made

really wish i had heard this record before i filed my enya review lol. their records go great together

She's playing shows in the UK, Dublin and Paris in February :)

Have You In My Wilderness has grown into an AOTY contender for me (as seems to be the case for a lot of people on this thread).
Been exploring her back catalogue over the last few days. So far I'm slightly preferring Ekstasis to Loud City Song, although (a) they're both pretty good and (b) neither of them has grabbed me as strongly as HYIMW yet. Will give Tragedy a shot next.

Buzzing for the Glasgow show in February already :)

Ekstasis > Tragedy > HYIMW > LCS

imo

saw her last night, loved it

This is really wonderful music. Where have I been?

Austin

I hate people who have the opinion that I'm about to have but wow does "Tragedy" completely tower over everything else she's done (or anybody else for that matter)

Will have to search that one out.

Saw her play a mini set on a small keyboard at L.A. nonprofit film house
The Cinefamily with maybe 10 other people a few years back. She is just a
transcendent talent, and her continued success and creative growth makes me think
she'll be a significant force to be reckoned with for a long time

What if she is Luke skywalker's daughter hmmmm

Ekstasis is very good.

(first time hearing it right now)

One run through of Tragedy and I'm pretty disappointed by its non-songs that just seem to meander. Maybe I need to sit with it a little more, but on first impression, not terribly impressed.

The version of 'Feel You' she performed with the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians at Africa Express is quite something. Sadly can't find it on youtube http://open.spotify.com/track/5cvrDq3ESa2CpfG7oEiUc9

In the Same Room not only justifies its existence fairly easily, some of these new recordings feel very much definitive.

Excellent.

I'll check it out. Saw her twice on tour and the first time was great (Loud City Song) but the next show for Have You In My Wilderness felt like a night full of constantly crescendo-ridden pop. Made me miss the subtlety of Ekstasis.

She's on the new Laurel Halo album, Dust

The new rearrangement of “So Lilies” from In the Same Room is so great. I’d be down for the whole of Tragedy re-recorded with a full live band.

I fucking adore that NPR article, great job. I put off reading it until I familiarised myself with the album a bit, because I didn’t want to have any preconceived expectations before listening. But boy, this piece (and the track-by-track analysis) really does give another dimension to this already complex record. Especially for a person like me—English is not my first language, so it really helped me catch some nuances/references in the lyrics. Thanks.

^ Shit, wrong thread. Sorry.

but who's that article about, i wanna read it

I saw her in Bologna last night. There was a lot of new material, which left a very favourable first impression. There was one song the title of which she said she didn't know, which is probably the most boisterous song she's ever written, with high-pitched vocal freakouts and what have you. Bring on the next album, in an event.

Yeah, saw her in Lisbon last week, impressive show, just her and a piano, a guy on synths. Good songs, a style of her own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhBrJDgIxO4

revisiting this album and love it.

the vocal on "What did i do to make you feel so bad? What did i do that you would make me feel so bad?" kills

also love the euphoric birdsong vocals of "lucette stranded on the island"

it's such a great album! i've started listening to it when i want to calm and center myself, and it works wonders

^ good way of putting it

Kind of inspired by the 'best multi-album run' thread, because she's had a fantastic one.

ANY news about a new LP? Rumours?

I saw her live in November 2016, she debuted two or three new tracks -- she even thanked the audience for being enthusiastic about this new, yet-unreleased material. It made me think a new album was surely coming very soon, but that was obviously not the case. HYIMW turns 3 in two months, I think it's been her longest break between records so far?

Would love a new record soon. Have You In My Wilderness and In the Same Room have set the expectations pretty high, but I'm hopeful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5uwPaCvbhA

this is maybe the best thing she's ever done