Album: Loud City Song
Artist: Julia Holter
Born: Culver City, Los Angeles
Released: August 2013
Genre: Baroque
At the more experimental end of the pop spectrum, there's a whole host of great US female musicians recording today, from Joanna Newsom and Julianna Barwick to Grouper, Laurel Halo, Zola Jesus and Julia Holter. Reflecting on this blog and the history of pop music, it's fair to say that men have dominated the scene, especially in the 60s and 70s, but there have still been some notable exceptions like Kate Bush, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey and Björk, and it's now good to see the momentum swinging the other way (however, there will always be some dark musical recesses, like metal and rap, that will remain persistently macho). One trait shared by Holter with Barwick and Grouper, as well as predecessors like Laurie Anderson, is an ability to fuse avant-garde music (Holter studied composition at CalArts) with pop to create something disorientating and new. What I love about this record, as well as earlier Holter LPs, Ekstasis (2012) and Tragedy (2011), is the way that the songs start out with discordant musical elements that somehow coalesce to create a beautiful pop melody. The baroque sound of piano and strings gives the music an immersive quality, while the addition of jazz instruments like the trombone and double bass lends Loud City Song a richer sound compared to her earlier records. I came to Holter's music a bit late, giving Loud City Song its first spin almost a year after it was released (just before going to the Green Man Festival in summer 2014). Her dreamy afternoon set on the main stage was one of the highlights of the festival.
In interviews, Holter has said the album was inspired by her hometown of LA and Gigi, a novella turned into a famous musical in the 50s. That film, and Holter's music, both have a slightly creepy element to them, but what they also champion (embodied in the character of Gigi) is innocence and goodness in a world becoming increasingly superficial and consumeristic. While Tragedy and Ekstasis were very introspective records, Loud City Song is all about the human dynamics of living in a modern city, with Horns Surrounding Me about the paparazzi and unending gossip that characterises LA. While I enjoy the album's quirkier songs like In The Green Wild and Maxim's II (which sounds indebted to Laurie Anderson's O Superman), some of the highlights on the album for me are the dreamy, spectral tracks like Hello Stranger and He's Running Through My Eyes. Opening song World ("What am I looking for in you? How can I escape you?") and City Appearing ("All the birds of the world make their way over / with new softer songs to sing") both also share this ethereal, poetic quality. These songs also showcase Holter's stunning vocals, and the influence of composers like Robert Ashley and John Cage helped to inform the album's production and put the focus on the heavenly singing. As well as being an album about people-watching, Loud City Song attempts to find some sense of peace and reflection in an increasingly noisy, fast-paced modern world, and it's this otherworldly feel (reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins in their prime) that makes this such a compelling record.
At the more experimental end of the pop spectrum, there's a whole host of great US female musicians recording today, from Joanna Newsom and Julianna Barwick to Grouper, Laurel Halo, Zola Jesus and Julia Holter. Reflecting on this blog and the history of pop music, it's fair to say that men have dominated the scene, especially in the 60s and 70s, but there have still been some notable exceptions like Kate Bush, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey and Björk, and it's now good to see the momentum swinging the other way (however, there will always be some dark musical recesses, like metal and rap, that will remain persistently macho). One trait shared by Holter with Barwick and Grouper, as well as predecessors like Laurie Anderson, is an ability to fuse avant-garde music (Holter studied composition at CalArts) with pop to create something disorientating and new. What I love about this record, as well as earlier Holter LPs, Ekstasis (2012) and Tragedy (2011), is the way that the songs start out with discordant musical elements that somehow coalesce to create a beautiful pop melody. The baroque sound of piano and strings gives the music an immersive quality, while the addition of jazz instruments like the trombone and double bass lends Loud City Song a richer sound compared to her earlier records. I came to Holter's music a bit late, giving Loud City Song its first spin almost a year after it was released (just before going to the Green Man Festival in summer 2014). Her dreamy afternoon set on the main stage was one of the highlights of the festival.
In interviews, Holter has said the album was inspired by her hometown of LA and Gigi, a novella turned into a famous musical in the 50s. That film, and Holter's music, both have a slightly creepy element to them, but what they also champion (embodied in the character of Gigi) is innocence and goodness in a world becoming increasingly superficial and consumeristic. While Tragedy and Ekstasis were very introspective records, Loud City Song is all about the human dynamics of living in a modern city, with Horns Surrounding Me about the paparazzi and unending gossip that characterises LA. While I enjoy the album's quirkier songs like In The Green Wild and Maxim's II (which sounds indebted to Laurie Anderson's O Superman), some of the highlights on the album for me are the dreamy, spectral tracks like Hello Stranger and He's Running Through My Eyes. Opening song World ("What am I looking for in you? How can I escape you?") and City Appearing ("All the birds of the world make their way over / with new softer songs to sing") both also share this ethereal, poetic quality. These songs also showcase Holter's stunning vocals, and the influence of composers like Robert Ashley and John Cage helped to inform the album's production and put the focus on the heavenly singing. As well as being an album about people-watching, Loud City Song attempts to find some sense of peace and reflection in an increasingly noisy, fast-paced modern world, and it's this otherworldly feel (reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins in their prime) that makes this such a compelling record.
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