Julia Holter

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

Double album Aviary out on October 26th, can't wait!

a double album! awesome

press release mentions "Blade Runner-inspired synth work" ...!

Wow, that single is gorgeous. Kind of reminds me of something from Laure Anderson's Mister Heartbreak.

Pre-ordered that shit so fast.

New song is good. Really looking forward to a double album from her. She's done nothing except improve with record, so my hope are pretty high for Aviary.

I love the new single. Luxurious.

I’ve given her a bunch of chances and was encouraged by the synth mention above but stuff doesn’t have enough structure for me, not enough of a groove I guess

Cannot wait as well

she is good live. first time she told me that if i wanted to buy her record, i had to make sure i had bus change. mensch

second time it was all crescendos, but have you in my wilderness is top drawer

I saw her live in the Berghain, phantastic place and great concert. She is so natural and has quite a large spectrum, she never ceases to amaze. In a way I see her as the legitimate successor of Laurie Anderson. Though her music is totally different.

^ I totally get what you're saying with the Laurie Anderson comparison! Of course they're miles away stylistically but at the same time it makes so much sense in my mind.

I saw her live twice, the first time after Ekstasis and before Loud City Song, and the second time after Have You in My Wilderness. Both shows were great but the second one was especially moving and memorable (nice indoor venue instead of a festival tent; she also seemed more confident as a perfomer and it seemed... IDK, somehow grander?). She's an incredible musician, it's such a joy to just sit and watch her play. After the second show she also did a meet & greet almost immediately afterwards and seemed like a truly lovely person, but I was too shy to approach her (and I didn't bring anything to sign).

I don't disagree that her music can lack struture but I don't think that's the point, I love how she explores textures and tensions and I really like this new single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIk2CGUTPr0

fully expecting this new album to be her masterpiece

she seems to get better with every record which is a rare thing these days (the last one is divine)

may have posted this earlier but she is also super down to earth. Saw her on LCS tour and not only did she geek out about kate bush and buffalo 66 with me, but she asked me to choose what to pay for her vinyl so I could safely get home on transit!

I love that the latest single is a beatless, freeform exploration that lasts seven minutes, I know there's other people doing similarly audacious things but she just feels so unparalleled as an artist sometimes

Just received a "shipped" notice on my preorder. Really exciting.

this album is really... so so much. often breath-taking but like i could do without the occasional extended dissonant bagpipes drone section but thankfully there's not too much of that.

after one listen i'm leaning towards 'truly incredible accomplishment'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNTxn7BcfGQ

a few more listens in and this is completely engrossing for the whole 90 minutes and covers so much ground, absolutely her masterpiece

Does anyone know if the wingdings on the front cover say anything?

"Sweet in the melting world", it seems

Got an email a bit ago from Domino informing me that my digital copy of the album is now ready for download. That's a cool new thing that I don't think I've experienced before. Just tracked my package and it still says not expected to be delivered until Tuesday. Still at work for now, but at least I'll be able to listen to it over the weekend.

Holter's voice reminds me of Siouxie.

The way this is sequenced and the way the songs are structured is almost like a modern symphony. . . or, no: it's an opera!

So, as such things go, there's no way in HELL you can properly assess it after just one listen.

it sort of feels like an apocalyptic version of talk talk

i cant wait to listen to this

fuck it just starts like that, huh?

an apocalyptic version of talk talk

Where do I sign up?

Holy shit @ this album

This is challenging.

Can barely recall her previous albums. Now we're talkin'.

In many ways this album reminds me of Björk's Utopia: classical in its conception, rife with gorgeous trouvailles, but the whimsy and precious affectations are occasionally too much to bear (less so on Aviary, however, which is more varied timbrally). Still, it's hard not to be impressed.

I managed to listen to half of it yesterday and give it a (sem-distracted) full spin today, so I don't have really much to say other than that I adore it. Some early reviews had me slightly worried that it might be overly self-indulgent or impenetrable but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

Let me just chime in on that note with my reaction after two, very full, very intense listens:

Honestly, the more I try to understand it, the less I do. Read lyrics; that made it worse. I mean, think about it: the lack of immediate musical repetition (and then, just at short intervals), seemingly nonsense lyrics, seemingly nonsense chords (+the combination of those two in unison), and oddly comforting moments of sheer beauty (the beginning portion of 'In Gardens' Muteness' and the whole of 'Words I Heard' are just stunning) make for an album that you could literally start at any point within the album's sequencing to give a first time listener a "starting point" and then run the album from there, with the portion you cut off the beginning now at the end, and they would have no other reference point.

All that is to say: it is an album nearly without context.

I'm aging myself perhaps here, however: I now honestly understand what people (usually baby boomers) meant when they said that some contemporary music was so foreign-sounding, but simultaneously intriguing, that it (usually Bob Dylan or the Grateful Dead in the 60s) sounded to them like it was from another planet. Aviary is just that completely without context. Fucking rabbit hole of music. Wow.

Fucking meant worm hole.

*deep sigh*

Fuckin' whole goddamn analogy riding on that one thing.

Sheesh.

“Rabbbit hole” also works in a Lewis Carroll sense.

uhhhh ok i should check this out

an apocalyptic version of talk talk

This is 90 minutes!?!? Given that and all the praise in this thread I can’t wait to listen to this

I think the one word describing this album best at the moment for me is unfortunately suffocating.

i understand how people could find this album completely impenetrable, but i've found it the easiest of any of her albums to get into. i really wanted to like Have You In My Wilderness but something about the rhythmic sensibility, and the way the instruments fit together on it just felt awkward to me and i could never really get into it. Aviary on the other hand is so free-flowing and dense with sound that it's like a whole world to get lost in. the only place it really loses me is that 5 minute bagpipe drone at the start of Everyday is an Emergency. there's some fairly accessible songs on it hidden between all the drones etc. too