Julia Holter’s music has always been challenging and polarising—her new album even more so, as it has been shaped by extreme events in her life, such as the birth of her daughter and the death of her young nephew. Thoughts of life and death, love and loss flow in and out of the new songs, liquefying them associatively. The melodies meander gently, the mood is dark, but not sad and depressed, rather overtired and probably marked by the sleep deprivation of new parenthood. The songwriter from L.A. wants her sixth album to sound just as fluid and watery. On »Evening Mood«, she uses her daughter’s ultrasound heartbeat to bring the new life in her own body to life musically. In addition to such unusual sound sources and her penchant for improvisation and broken song structures, she often takes a minimalist approach: On »Meyou«, for example, Holter forms a small choir with the voices from Nite Jewel’s Ramona Gonzalez, Jessika Kenney, Maia and Mia Doi Todd, and doesn’t use any other instruments. On the following track »Spinning«, inspired by the theorist Hélène Cixous, she reflects on the night as a place of imagination and creativity: »What is delicious and what is omniscient? What is the circular magic I’m visiting?« She certainly succeeded in capturing her own new-found creativity very well on »Something In The Room She Moves«.
Julia Holter
Ekstasis
RVNG International