Julia Holter | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Los Angeles-based composer/multi-instrumentalist Julia Holter blurs the boundaries between indie music, modern composition, and electronic music. On early releases such as 2011s Tragedy, she combined bedroom recordings of droning electronics and distant vocals with inspirations as cultured as Euripides play Hippolytus. On every album, the scope of her music grew; she incorporated chamber pop and the words of Virginia Woolf and Frank OHara on 2012s Ekstasis and engaged with Gigi -- both Colettes short story and Vincente Minellis 1958 film -- on 2013s bustling Loud City Song. Holters embrace of traditional pop structures reached a peak on 2015s acclaimed Have You in My Wilderness, but with 2018s double-album Aviary, she underscored just how vital experimentation was to her ambitious, uncompromising music. Born in Milwaukee and raised in Los Angeles by a musically inclined family -- her father is a guitarist who once played with Pete Seeger -- Holter began playing piano at an early age and started writing her own music at age ten. Along with her classical training, Holter also learned to play songs by Billie Holiday, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, and Radiohead. While studying composition at the University of Michigan, she began recording her own music. After graduation, she studied electronic music at CalArts with Michael Pisaro, who she was inspired to work with after seeing him perform during her time at U of M. In 2008, she contributed tracks to Monikas 4 Women No Cry, Vol. 3 as well as a Human Ear compilation, and released the CD-R album Cookbook on Sleepy Mammal Sound. The following year, Holter began working with the Dublab collective and appeared on a volume of their In the Loop series of vinyl compilations. The fruits of another one of her projects, phonetically translating songs performed in languages other than English, were on display on 2010s "Why Sad Song," her interpretation of a Burmese lament that appeared on the Beaterblocker #2 collection (which also featured tracks by Keith Fullerton Whitman and Eluvium). That year, Holter also released the CD-R Celebration on Engraved Glass Records, a collection of live recordings on NNA Tapes and performed with the Linda Perhacs Band. All of this activity was just a warm-up for her first full-fledged album, 2011s Tragedy, which was released by Leaving Records. Inspired by Euripides play Hippolytus, the album melded tweaked electronics with classical and pop elements, earning critical acclaim from avant and underground music publications both online and in print. Soon after Tragedys release came Ekstasis, a lighter and more accessible but still complex song cycle that arrived in March 2012. On top of her busy music schedule, she also found time to tutor teenagers in South Central L.A. as part of a nonprofit organization. Her third album, Loud City Song, was inspired by Colettes 1944 novella Gigi (and Vincente Minellis 1958 film) and arrived in August 2013. On 2015s Have You in My Wilderness, she took a more intimate, accessible approach that put her vocals front and center. Collaborations with Ducktails and Jean-Michel Jarre preceded 2016s Bleed for This, the score to Ben Youngers film about boxer Vinny Pazienza. Early the next year, In the Same Room inaugurated a series of albums from Domino that featured the labels artists re-creating their definitive songs live in a London studio. In September 2017, Holter premiered her score to Carl Theodor Dryers classic 1928 silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc at Los Angeles FIGat7th. A year later, she released her fifth album Aviary, an expansive double album featuring contributions from Cole M.G.N., Kenny Gilmore, and Tashi Wada and sources of inspiration including Vangelis Blade Runner score, medieval music, and Alice Coltrane. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 10 Title: Eating the Stars Released: 2007-04-30 Tracks: 8 Duration: 22:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Neighbor, Neighbor (02:30) 2 Je vivroie liement (01:44) 3 Office of the Dead (03:24) 4 Saint Eulalia (02:59) 5 50 Bunny Rabbits (02:45) 6 Dont Dream Its Over (03:32) 7 With Loue to Toune (02:53) 8 Willow Weep (03:09) |
 | Album: 2 of 10 Title: Tragedy Released: 2011-08-30 Tracks: 6 Duration: 44:48 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Try to Make Yourself a Work of Art (06:55) 2 The Falling Age (09:14) 3 Goddess Eyes (03:25) 4 Celebration (09:49) 5 So Lillies (07:20) 6 Finale (08:05) |
 | Album: 3 of 10 Title: FACT Mix 316: Julia Holter Released: 2012-02-13 Tracks: 1 Duration: 31:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 FACT Mix 316: Julia Holter (31:21) |
 | Album: 4 of 10 Title: Ekstasis Released: 2012-03-05 Tracks: 15 Duration: 1:32:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Marienbad (05:24) 2 Our Sorrows (06:16) 3 In the Same Room (03:58) 4 Boy in the Moon (08:19) 5 Für Felix (04:11) 6 Goddess Eyes II (06:23) 7 Moni Mon Amie (03:31) 8 Four Gardens (06:12) 9 Goddess Eyes I (03:40) 10 This Is Ekstasis (08:54) 1 Try to Make Yourself a Work of Art (06:38) 2 The Falling Age (13:41) 3 Marienbad (04:15) 4 Our Sorrows (06:39) 5 So Lillies (04:39) |
 | Album: 5 of 10 Title: The Middle of Life (Die ganze Zeit) Released: 2013-01-11 Tracks: 1 Duration: 47:20 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 The Middle of Life (Die ganze Zeit) (47:20) |
 | Album: 6 of 10 Title: Loud City Song Released: 2013-08-19 Tracks: 9 Duration: 44:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 World (04:52) 2 Maxim’s I (06:07) 3 Horns Surrounding Me (04:46) 4 In the Green Wild (04:07) 1 Hello Stranger (06:16) 2 Maxim’s II (05:28) 3 He’s Running Through My Eyes (02:18) 4 This Is a True Heart (03:30) 5 City Appearing (07:16) |
| Loud City Song : Allmusic album Review : "Theres a flavor to the sound of walking no one ever noticed before," Julia Holter sings at one point on her third album, Loud City Song, and if anyone could notice that, it would be her. Holter excels at bringing emotional depth to her high-concept music and never more so than on this set of songs, which feels as ambitious as Tragedy and Ekstasis, but more down to earth. This may be her most accessible work yet, perhaps because of its relatively contemporary setting: drawing from Colettes 1944 novella Gigi (as well as the 1958 musical film it inspired), Loud City Song explores the city, celebrity, the individual, and love in fin de siècle Paris and 21st century Los Angeles, blurring them together in ways that get at more universal truths. In Gigis time or Holters, there are people who love spectacle, celebrity, and gossip, and Holter examines this brilliantly in the two-part "Maxims." Named for the famed Parisian restaurant, the first part fades in like a glittering mirage coming into view, and as she breathlessly wonders, "Into Maxims we will see them walk/Will they eat a piece of cheese or will they talk?," Holter captures the banal curiosity of the celebrity-obsessed. "Maxims II" goes a step further, with woozy brass sliding from old-school musical charm into free jazz chaos that implies Holter made good on her threat: "Say it to my face/If you want to be starting something." Even at its noisiest, Loud City Song sounds expensive; this is the first album Holter recorded in a professional studio (which is noteworthy, considering how sophisticated the home-recorded Tragedy and Ekstasis sounded). Gorgeously arranged strings, brass, and harpsichords grace songs like "World," which gently and poignantly introduces the claustrophobia that fully emerges on the stunning "Horns Surrounding Me," where hurried footsteps and insistent brass give the impression of a stylized hunt. The lavish surroundings also bring some of Holters catchiest songs yet to life: rustling flutes add to "This Is a True Heart"s bittersweet sophistication while a jaunty acoustic bass provides the backbone for the fascinating "In the Green Wild," which sounds like the perfect blend of Joni Mitchell and Laurie Anderson. Cerebral pleasures like these are balanced by emotional ones such as the torchy snippet "Hes Running Through My Eyes" and an ethereally sensual cover of Barbara Lewis "Hello Stranger" that slows everything down to bask in the beauty of Holters voice, which is often overlooked given all the other things going on in her music. In that regard, this album is no exception; with all the intriguing details in the words and music, theres a lot to digest. Loud City Song is Holters most polished work to date, and another example of how she upholds and redefines what it means to be an avant-garde singer/songwriter. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 10 Title: Maria Released: 2014-02-25 Tracks: 9 Duration: 28:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Maria (04:04) 2 2HB (04:04) 3 A Gold Thunder (02:50) 4 Für Felix (02:15) 5 In the Same Room (02:41) 6 Je Vivroie Liement (02:16) 7 Minerals (03:13) 8 Moni Mon Amie (03:49) 9 Monocular Eyes (02:48) |
 | Album: 8 of 10 Title: Have You in My Wilderness Released: 2015-09-25 Tracks: 10 Duration: 46:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Feel You (04:08) 2 Silhouette (03:53) 3 How Long? (03:58) 4 Lucette Stranded on the Island (06:46) 5 Sea Calls Me Home (03:07) 6 Night Song (04:12) 7 Everytime Boots (03:28) 8 Betsy on the Roof (06:15) 9 Vasquez (06:37) 10 Have You in My Wilderness (03:36) |
| Have You in My Wilderness : Allmusic album Review : After drawing on Greek tragedies and MGM musicals for her earlier albums, it would be hard for Julia Holter to find loftier sources of inspiration. On Have You in My Wilderness, she recasts her ambition to a more intimate scale: where her previous album Loud City Song had the heft of a novel, these songs play like a collection of short stories. Indeed, Holter remains as literary as ever; her influences include Christopher Isherwoods The Berlin Stories -- with Holter taking a sultry, Sally Bowles-meets-Nico turn on the torchy "How Long" -- as well as the novella Chance Acquaintances by Colette, whose Gigi begat Loud City Song. Wilderness bite-sized approach makes it easier to savor the breathtaking beauty of Holters music, and fits her meditations on closeness and distance. The "you" and "me" implied in the album title are united, and separated, by unpredictable emotions ("Show me how you make your second face," she urges a lover on "Night Song"). While songs like the charming opener "Feel You," which offers a glimpse of a rainy day in Mexico City with a companion who might not even be real, arent strictly autobiographical, they feel genuine. Loud City Song started this warming trend, most palpably on the gorgeous, slow-motion deconstruction of Barbara Lewis "Hello Stranger." A similar tenderness graces Have You in My Wilderness title track: even as Holter asks "Why do I feel you running away?" she sounds nearer than ever, thanks to producer Cole Marsden Greif-Neills spotlight on her vocals. The clarity of her voice matches the immediacy of her writing, which manifests itself in remarkably catchy songs like "Everytime Boots" country-pop, and in some of her most sensuous imagery. She notes how sweet a boxful of oranges smells, and how clear water looks; indeed, water is at the heart of Wilderness, from the flow of its songs to the way its characters are surrounded and isolated by it. "Lucette Stranded on the Island" sounds as beautiful, vast, and dangerous as the sea, with angelic strings, piano, and harmonies giving a deceptive sweetness to its tale of a woman robbed and left to die by her lover. "Sea Calls Me Home" dives into uneasy freedom as Holter cries "I cant swim!" while the harpsichords from the Beach Boys "God Only Knows" compel her deeper into the waves. As always, Holters adventurous choices are much more than theoretical exercises. The escalating strings and prepared piano ratchet the tension of "Betsy on the Roof" to almost unbearable levels, while "Vasquez"s spacy jazz fusion is fittingly mercurial as it ponders who the good and bad guys really are. While its tempting to say Have You in My Wilderness is her most personal music yet, it might be more accurate to say that its her most approachable: this time, her brilliance demands a lot from her listeners, but also meets them more than halfway. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 10 Title: In the Same Room Released: 2017-03-31 Tracks: 11 Duration: 59:26 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Horns Surrounding Me (04:36) 2 So Lillies (04:11) 3 Silhouette (04:57) 4 How Long? (04:02) 5 Feel You (04:05) 6 Lucette Stranded on the Island (07:06) 7 In the Green Wild (04:04) 8 City Appearing (07:41) 9 Vasquez (08:40) 10 Betsy on the Roof (06:34) 11 Sea Calls Me Home (03:26) |
| In the Same Room : Allmusic album Review : In the wake of 2015s acclaimed Have You in My Wilderness, Julia Holter embarked on smaller projects, including the Bleed for This score and this collection of performances recorded over the course of two days at Londons RAK Studios. In the Same Room inaugurates a series from Domino Records that captures reworked versions of their artists definitive songs, and Holters volume combines the spontaneity of her bands live shows with the meticulous craft of her studio albums. The setting gives her poppier songs more immediacy, with the bassline of Loud City Songs "In the Green Wild" taking on a dancerly sway that, coupled with Holters sing-song delivery, gives the song a whole new mischief. Meanwhile, her dreamier songs have an added presence, whether its the crisp edge the band brings to Tragedys "So Lilies," the lushness of Loud City Songs "Horns Surrounding Me," or the transporting drones of Have You in My Wilderness "Vasquez." Its not surprising that the majority of In the Same Rooms songs come from that album, since these sessions were recorded while Holter was touring in support of it. Even so, these versions of Wilderness songs emphasize the humanity of its dreamy Laurel Canyon pop to different ends; "Feel You" and "Silhouette" are all the more tender, while the mix of beauty and peril on "Lucette Stranded on the Island," "Betsy on the Roof," and "Sea Calls Me Home" is even more precarious. Each of Holters studio albums showcases her skill at transporting listeners into the worlds she creates; on In the Same Room, she brings all of these worlds together in performances that are equally intimate and spectacular. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 10 Title: Aviary Released: 2018-10-26 Tracks: 15 Duration: 1:29:48 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Turn the Light On (04:16) 2 Whether (02:58) 3 Chaitius (08:10) 4 Voce Simul (06:34) 5 Every Day Is an Emergency (07:45) 6 Another Dream (06:07) 7 I Shall Love 2 (05:18) 1 Underneath the Moon (06:49) 2 Colligere (06:11) 3 In Gardens’ Muteness (06:36) 4 I Would Rather See (04:51) 5 Les Jeux to You (06:18) 6 Words I Heard (06:39) 7 I Shall Love 1 (05:09) 8 Why Sad Song (06:07) |