Julia Holter

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Julia Holter
Holter at Haldern Pop 2013
Born
Julia Shammas Holter

(1984-12-18) December 18, 1984 (age 39)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Michigan (BA)
California Institute of the Arts (MFA)
EmployerOccidental College
Musical career
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • composer
  • producer
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • keyboards
  • organ
  • harpsichord
  • drums
Years active2006–present
Labels
Websitejuliaholter.com

Julia Shammas Holter (born December 18, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, composer, artist, and academic, based in Los Angeles. Her work has received critical acclaim and incorporates elements of Art pop, Chamber pop, baroque pop and Ambient music. Following three independent album productions, Holter released Tragedy as her first official studio album in 2011. Ekstasis followed in 2012. After signing with Domino Records in 2013, she released the albums Loud City Song (2013), Have You in My Wilderness (2015), the live-in-the-studio album In the Same Room (2017) and the double album Aviary (2018).

Holter composed the score for the 2020 film Never Rarely Sometimes Always and released Behind the Wallpaper (2023) in collaboration with Spektral Quartet and Alex Temple. Her most recent studio album is Something in the Room She Moves, released in 2024.

Holter has also collaborated with other musicians, including Nite Jewel, Laurel Halo, Ariel Pink, Ducktails, Linda Perhacs, Michael Pisaro, and Jean-Michel Jarre.

Biography[edit]

Holter was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At age six her family moved to Los Angeles, where she later attended the Alexander Hamilton High School. She studied music at University of Michigan for four years, graduating with a degree in composition.[1] After seeing Michael Pisaro perform an avant-garde composition in Michigan, she was inspired to study with him at CalArts, where she graduated from another composition program.[1][2] Holter contributed songs to multiple compilation albums in 2008.[3] In 2010, she began playing with Linda Perhacs' band and released a CD-R titled Celebration and a collection of live recordings.[4]

Following three independently produced albums – Phaedra Runs to Russia (2007), Cookbook (2008), and Celebration (2010), Holter's official debut album, Tragedy, was released in August 2011 on Leaving Records. Inspired by Euripides' Greek play Hippolytus,[5][6] the album received generally favorable reviews and was named one of NPR's "Best Outer Sound Albums of 2011".[7]

Holter released her second album, Ekstasis, in March 2012 on the RVNG Intl. label. The album drew comparisons to works by such artists as Laurie Anderson, Julianna Barwick, Kate Bush, Joanna Newsom, Grouper, and Stereolab, and received many positive reviews.[8] Holter spent three years making the album, whose title comes from the Greek word meaning "outside of oneself."[9] The music video for album track "Moni Mon Amie", directed by Yelena Zhelezov, was also released in March.[10]

In addition to collaborating with other California-based musicians like Nite Jewel (Ramona Gonzalez), Holter released her third album, Loud City Song, in August 2013 on Domino Records.[4] Unlike her preceding albums, which were recorded mostly alone in her bedroom, Holter recorded Loud City Song with an ensemble of musicians.[11]

In 2015, Holter released the album Have You in My Wilderness, which was acclaimed by critics and became her most successful charting release to date. She also contributed to Ducktails' fifth studio album, St. Catherine, with her bandmates Chris Votek and Andrew Tholl.[12]

Holter collaborated with Jean-Michel Jarre on a song for the second part of the Electronica double album, released on July 18, 2016.[13]

In November 2016, she curated her own program during the tenth-anniversary edition of Le Guess Who? Festival in Utrecht. This program included performances by Laurel Halo, Josephine Foster, Maya Dunietz, Jessica Moss and other artists.

In September 2017, she performed a world premier of her scoring of the 1928 silent French film The Passion of Joan of Arc on September 29 at the FIGat7th in downtown Los Angeles.[14]

In September 2018, Holter announced her fifth commercially released album, Aviary, and released the lead single "I Shall Love 2". She followed it with another single, "Words I Heard", before the album's release on October 26. The record was praised for its scope and ambition and appeared on multiple year end lists for the best albums of 2018.[15][16]

In 2021, Holter was appointed the Johnston-Fix Professor of the Practice in Songwriting; Visiting Assistant Professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles.[17]

On January 9, 2024, Holter announced her sixth studio album, Something in the Room She Moves, which was released to critical acclaim on March 22 by Domino.[18]

Style[edit]

The Guardian wrote that "Holter's vocal register [...] faintly recalls Siouxsie Sioux or Nico".[19] Under the Radar similarly compared her to other female artists saying; "Holter is Siouxsie Sioux meets Kate Bush, with a matchstick intensity, relighting her own wick by the conversation in her voice, her diaphragm shifting between instruments".[20]

Personal life[edit]

Holter was previously in a relationship with former Real Estate guitarist and Ducktails frontman Matt Mondanile.[21] In 2015, she contributed to his Ducktails album, St. Catherine. In the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against Mondanile, Holter divulged that Mondanile was "emotionally abusive to the point where I had to have a lawyer intervene and was afraid for my life."[22]

Holter has been in a relationship with musician Tashi Wada, son of the sound artist Yoshi Wada, since 2015, and they have a daughter together who was born during the COVID-19 pandemic.[23][24] Holter and Wada first met in 2007 when they both played in a harmonium ensemble organized by their friend James.[23]

Discography[edit]

Studio albums[edit]

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart positions
US Heat BEL
(FL)
[25] 		BEL
(WA) 		NLD NOR
[26] 		SWI
[27] 		UK
[28]
Phaedra Runs to Russia
  • Released: 2007
  • Label: self-released
  • Format: CD-R
 — — — — — — —
Eating the Stars
  • Released: 2007
  • Label: Human Ear Music
  • Format: CD-R
 — — — — — — —
Cookbook
  • Released: 2008
  • Label: Sleepy Mammal Sound
  • Format: CD-R
 — — — — — — —
Celebration
  • Released: November 12, 2010
  • Label: Engraved Glass
  • Format: CD
 — — — — — — —
Tragedy
  • Released: August 30, 2011
  • Label: Leaving
  • Formats: LP, CD, digital download
 — — — — — — —
Ekstasis
  • Released: March 8, 2012
  • Label: RVNG
  • Formats: LP, CD, digital download
 49 — — — — — —
Loud City Song
  • Released: August 19, 2013
  • Label: Domino
  • Formats: LP, CD, digital download
 19 60 140 91 20 88 103
Have You in My Wilderness
  • Released: September 25, 2015
  • Label: Domino
  • Formats: LP, CD, digital download
 3 56 107 36 — — 29
Aviary
  • Release date: October 26, 2018
  • Label: Domino
  • Formats: LP, CD, digital download
 16 81 — — — 99 73
Behind the Wallpaper — — — — — — —
Something in the Room She Moves
  • Release date: March 22, 2024
  • Label: Domino
 — — — — — — —

Live albums[edit]

List of live albums, with selected chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart positions
BEL
(FL)
[25]
Live Recordings
  • Released: 2010
  • Label: NNA Tapes
  • Format: MC
 —
In the Same Room
  • Released: March 31, 2017
  • Label: Domino Documents
  • Format: LP, CD, digital download
 126

Singles[edit]

  • "Maria" (2011)[29]
  • "Marienbad" (2012)[30]
  • "In the Same Room" (2012)[31]
  • "Goddess Eyes" (2012)[32]
  • "World" (2013)[33]
  • "In The Green Wild" (2013)[34]
  • "Maxims I" (2013)[35]
  • "Don't Make Me Over" (2014)[36]
  • "Feel You" (2015)[37]
  • "Sea Calls Me Home" (2015)[38]
  • "Condemnation", with Romona Gonzalez and Nedelle Torissi (2017)[39]
  • "I Shall Love 2" (2018)[40]
  • "Words I Heard" (2018)[41]
  • "So Humble the Afternoon" (2018)[42]
  • "Les Jeux to You - Edit" (2019)[43]
  • "Gold Dust Woman" (2020)[44]
  • "Heloise", with Harper Simon and Meditations On Crime, feat. Geologist (2022)[45]
  • "Sun Girl" (2023)[46]

Remixes by Julia Holter[edit]

  • "Strange Town" by Buzzy Lee (2021)[47]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Nite Jewel. "JULIA HOLTER". Issue Magazine. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  2. ^ Ratliff, Ben (2012-03-04). "Week Ahead - Pop". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  3. ^ LA Road Concerts (September 17, 2009). "LA Road Concerts website". Los Angeles Road Concerts. Archived from the original on December 12, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
  4. ^ a b Phares, Heather. "Julia Holter - Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  5. ^ Wappler, Margaret (2012-01-06). "In rotation: Julia Holter's 'Tragedy'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  6. ^ Powell, Mike (2011-10-19). "Reviews: Julia Holter - 'Tragedy'". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  7. ^ Gotrich, Lars (2011-11-30). "The Best Outer Sound Albums of 2011". NPR. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  8. ^ Ekstasis reviews:
  9. ^ Pizzicarola, Elano (2012-03-06). "Julia Holter Talks Ekstasis and Recording Stuff Like Chatter and Fireworks". LA Weekly. Archived from the original on 2012-03-10. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  10. ^ Cooper, Duncan (2012-03-27). "Video: Julia Holter, 'Moni Mon Amie'". The Fader. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
  11. ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry (2012-02-12). "Rising: Julia Holter". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  12. ^ Lindsay, Andrew. "Knowledge & Virtue: Ducktails + Real Estate's Matt Mondanile". thereprise.org. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  13. ^ Allen, Jeremy (2015-09-22). "A rendezvous with electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre". Fact Magazine. Retrieved 2015-09-23.
  14. ^ "Julia Holter". artsbrookfield.com. 29 September 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  15. ^ Rettig, James (September 6, 2018). "Julia Holter – "I Shall Love 2" Video". Stereogum. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  16. ^ Slingerland, Calum (October 17, 2018). "Julia Holter Shares New Song "Words I Heard"". Exclaim!. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  17. ^ "Julia Holter". Occidental College. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2022.
  18. ^ Kelly, Tyler Damara (January 9, 2024). "Julia Holter announces new album, Something in the Room She Moves". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
  19. ^ Empire, Kitty (15 November 2015). "Julia Holter – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  20. ^ Hardy, Lauren (31 March 2017). "Julia Holter In the Same Room". Under the Radar. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  21. ^ John, Lucas (August 26, 2015). "Ducktails draws you into a different sonic world". Straight. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  22. ^ Connick, Tom (2017-10-25). "Julia Holter details emotional abuse from ex-Real Estate guitarist Matt Mondanile". NME. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  23. ^ a b Kim, Joshua Minsoo (March 20, 2024). "Tone Glow 135: Julia Holter". Tone Glow. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
  24. ^ Pedder, Alan (15 March 2024). "Julia Holter's Favorite Songs". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  25. ^ a b "Julia Holter - Loud City Song". ultratop.be. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  26. ^ "Ola discography". swedishcharts.com. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  27. ^ "Discographie Julia Holter". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  28. ^ "Julia Holter | full Official Chart history". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  29. ^ "Julia Holter - Maria". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  30. ^ "Julia Holter - Marienbad". factmag.com. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  31. ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry. "Tracks: Julia Holter - In The Same Room". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  32. ^ "Releases: Julia Holter - Goddess Eyes 12"". dominomusic.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  33. ^ Young, Alex (22 May 2013). "Julia Holter announces new album Loud City Song, streams first single "World"". consequence.net. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  34. ^ Mike, Powell. "Tracks: In The Green Wild - Julia Holter". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  35. ^ Cohen, Ian. "Tracks: Julia Holter - Maxim's I". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  36. ^ "Releases: Julia Holter - Don't Make Me Over/Hello Stranger 7" single". Dominomusic.com. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  37. ^ Leight, Elias. "Watch Julia Holter's "Feel You" Video". thefader.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  38. ^ "Julia Holter releases new song, announces tour (dates, stream)". brooklynvegan.com. 26 August 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  39. ^ "Releases: Julia Holter, Romona Gonxalez and Nedelle Torissi - Condemnation". dominomusic.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  40. ^ Rettig, James (6 September 2018). "Julia Holter - "I Shall Love 2" Video". Stereogum.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  41. ^ Minsker, Evan (18 October 2018). "Julia Holter shares new song "Words I Heard": Listen". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  42. ^ "Releases: Julia Holter - So Humble the Afternoon". dominomusic.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  43. ^ Holter, Julia. "Les Jeux To You (Edit) - Single". music.apple.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  44. ^ "Releases: Julia Holter - God Dust Woman". dominomusic.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  45. ^ Brodsky, Rachel (21 April 2022). "Julia Holter, Harper Simon & Meditations On Crime - Heloise (feat. Geologist)". Stereogum.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  46. ^ Bell, Kaelen (7 November 2023). "Julia Holter Shares Colourful, Psychedelic Video for New Song "Sun Girl"". Exclaim!. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
  47. ^ White, Caitlin (2 June 2021). "Watch Buzzy Lee Perform 'Spoiled Love' Songs In Her Childhood Bathroom For NPR's Tiny Desk Concert". Uproxx.com. Retrieved 22 November 2022.

External links[edit]

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