I had the pleasure to see Julia Holter and Tess Roby at the Imperial on the night of March 4th. Julia Holter is an art pop/avant garde singer songwriter, from Los Angeles, opening for Julia was a singer songwriter by the name Tess Roby. I first found Julia’s music when her previous album Have You in my Wilderness was released, it was a wonderful art pop album, after looking more into her discography it by far the most accessible album she’s made to date. Julia’s music has always been a standout to me in the vast music landscape. She uses a very eccentric mix of instrumentation to create the backdrop to her singing; Julia herself is a keyboardist, though unconventional, using not only piano sounds out of her electric keyboard, but frequently using clavichords and organs as well. In her band she has a drummer, an AMAZING upright bassist, a violinist and a multi-instrumentalist.
Tess Roby opened for Julia, her music can be described as minimalistic synth pop, often employing slowly shifting synth chords or arpeggios and embellishments from guitar. On stage Tess played a synthesizer and sang, and her brother was an accompanying guitarist, they had a drum machine to provide a steady rhythm. They are under the label Italians Do It Better, a label that signs many similarly groomed synth pop bands, one notable one being the Chromatics (check out the song Shadow), whom I used to enjoy quite a bit. Overall Tess Roby’s music is quite relaxing but not too eventful, there’s definitely some good hooks here and there, I’d recommend the song Ballad 5.
Touring her new album Aviary, Julia started her set with the first song off of the album Turn the Light On. It is the most chaotic, loudest track she’s ever made, it explodes from 0 to 100 immediately; there’s no discernible tempo, everything band member seems to be playing all over the place, while miraculously in sync, and Julia could still sing over the chaos somehow. This song is worth checking out for it is pure chaos, but do keep in mind it doesn’t represent Julia’s discography at all, she makes a huge range of music, I’m just personally glad she delve into a bit of noise.
For the most part, Julia’s newest album was too abstract and avant garde for me, though many did praise is for its boldness. Julia went on to perform more from her newest, as well as some oldies.
One of my favorite songs from the show, also off of the new album, is the track Words I Heard. The song is built around Julia on piano, repeating a melodic motif, while the rest of the band slowly builds up a wall of sound around that motif to a climactic moment of modulation and stopping; the song would restart at the motif again, building up to a final climax and finish. The song is special in Julia’s discography as it’s not as groovy as her other songs, but rather spacious and grand.
Another one of my favorite songs she played off of the new record is the song I Shall Love 2. The song starts off with meandering organ chords and joyful leads that perfectly resembles the mix of unknowing and joy of falling in love, featuring lyrics ‘oh I am in love, what can I do’. The song builds slowly to a gigantic, chaotic crescendo similar to her opener ‘Turn the Light On’, though this time bringing with it assurance and joy, ending with Julia singing the lyrics ‘I shall love’ repeatedly.
She played some of the older songs that I really liked. Betsy On The Roof is a ballad about saving Betsy from jumping from the roof, though nothing is well described, it is tragic and grand, conveying a sense of desperation. In the song Sea Calls Me Home, a song about being free and independent, returning to nature, she expresses a sense of freedom mixed with elegance I’ve never heard elsewhere before.
Julia’s music is truly remarkable, I’ve been listening to her album Have You In My Wilderness for years, and to this day it is still as beautiful and refreshing as it once was. I can’t recommend Julia Holter enough, please check her out.