Julia Holter
Awash with atmospheric backing music, World offers a very gentle introduction to Julia Holter's third album, Loud City Song. With Holter's delicate and carefully paced vocals gliding over the top of this minimal musical backdrop, you're lulled into a dreamy world that carries you away before you know it.
Billed as her first proper studio album (her previous two records were recorded in her bedroom) Loud City Song is a mix of highly individualistic and artistic tracks and there are, at times, surreal things goings on. In terms of sound quality, though, there is not as significant a difference between her most recent songs and those she recorded on her own as you'd expect. Some of the more experimental songs such as Maxim's 2 and Horns Surrounding Me, however, take Holter's work to a far more out there level than on her previous outfit. The themes explored on Loud City Song take some inspiration from the 1944 novella Gigi, written by the French author Colette, with Holter choosing to use this inspiration in a contemporary way. The book deals, in part, with society and appearances, and Holter shines a light on our culture's obsession with celebrity – something the LA-born musician resents.
Loud City Songs is a highly inconsistent album in terms of maintaining atmosphere from one song to the next. There are times when the tracks flow together nicely and then there are times when the change is, quite honestly, jarring. This album is definitely not boring but whether or not you can make much sense of it is another matter.
