Julia Holter shares new song 'Words I Heard'
17th October 2018
As the release of Aviary, Julia Holter’s breathtakingly expansive fifth album approaches (out Oct 26th on Domino); Holter is pleased to share a second song from her forthcoming record, ‘Words I Heard’.
The video is directed by Dicky Bahto, a frequent collaborator of Julia’s who also made the video for ‘I Shall Love 2'. On Aviary, Julia took a quote from Lebanese-American writer Etel Adnan as its starting point and Bahto takes this inspiration further for ‘Words I Heard’.
"Tall trees of so many kinds, from redwoods to manzanitas, oaks, madrones, maples and elms, plants and bushes, flowers and seeds, acorns and grass, they all are the last chance of the earth and they all make a thick and permanent coat, a cover, a bath of perfume, a touch of healing, a royal procession, music and fanfare, they rise and talk to Tamalpais, and sing lullabies and songs of love." Etel Adnan, ‘Journey to Mount Tamalpais’
Bahto says of the video: “When Julia told me that the title of her album was inspired by Etel Adnan, one of my favorite writers, I felt that I had to make a film for one of the songs on Mount Tamalpais, a recurring subject in both Adnan's visual art and her writing. I filmed on a few hikes down the Dipsea trail, and in the last section of the song combine this with footage made during the studio sessions of the album.”
Aviary is an epic journey through what Julia Holter describes as “the cacophony of the mind in a melting world”, full of startling turns and dazzling instrumental arrangements. Jetting between medieval chamber music and proggy jazz-rock transports, plaintive balladry and android robotics, it’s a journey full of wild twists and turns - but it’s one that seems to cling to a sense of radical hope, even in its most sombre moments.
‘Words I Heard’ reflects this idea, amidst swirling strings, Julia sings “Save our souls and our laughter… I love you in the City of Man”. As Thomas Pinsky describes it in his translation of Dante’s Inferno, the City of Man can “be thought of as a radical representation of the world in which we live, stripped of all temporizing and all hope”. When the world you live in starts to feel more and more like a hell, it can be hard to know which way to turn - and while it isn’t art’s job to show us the way, what it can do is offer us glimpses of what defiance looks like. Holter explains further “I think this album is reflecting that feeling of cacophony and how one responds to it as a person - how one behaves, how one looks for love, for solace. Maybe it’s a matter of listening to and gathering the seeming madness, of forming something out of it and envisioning a future.”
Watch the video for the previously shared 'I Shall Love 2' here.
Aviary will be available to pre-order on Dom-Mart exclusive deluxe LP (2 x heavyweight clear vinyl, photo print and booklet), Indie-exclusive LP (2 x heavyweight clear vinyl and booklet), standard LP (2 x heavyweight black vinyl and booklet), double CD (with booklet) and digitally
Upcoming live dates
2018
24th Nov - Explore The North Festival, Leeuwarden Tickets
26th Nov - Paradiso Noord, Amsterdam Tickets
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2019
18th Jan – Mona Foma Festival, Tasmania Tickets
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