In the space of two years, Julia Holter has released three albums. While Tragedy and Eckstasis were critically-acclaimed sonic documents, her latest, Loud City Sound, highlights a rather different artistic potential. Holter's layers of swirling vocals are paired down, while space is given a much more vital role in the proceedings. Even the swells of acoustic and electronic instrumentation sound more restrained. In doing this, Holter seems to have struck a fine balance between maximalism and minimalism. This aesthetic choice pops up to varying degrees on the post-punkish "Horns Surrounding Me," the spellbinding reverie of "Maxims I," and her infinitely delicate and otherworldly cover of Barbara Lewis's "Hello Stranger."I recently spoke with Holter over the phone to talk about working in a proper recording studio, collaborating with a producer and musicians, and some of the non-musical ideas at play Loud City Sound.Noisey: So, you recorded with string and horn players for the new album, right?
Julia Holter: It was just an ensemble with saxophone, trombone, cello, and some other instruments. Then me on synths.And you have some experience composing for players?
I studied composition for six years, so it was something I was used to. On the other hand, when I was in school, I was pretty confused, and I didn't really make music I liked. So, my experience working with musicians was limited because I was a little scared. Then I started recording my own music and retreated, becoming a solitary person writing and recording everything myself.So, working with musicians on this album was new in some ways and not new in other ways. It was new in that I was doing something I was really, really ready for and excited about. It was also the most efficient situation in which to make music that is challenging and fun.Right, when you work solo at a home studio, as you've done in the past, you have total control. And you can build up a method or approach—one that can then be used later in a recording studio in front of producers, engineers, and players.
Yeah, it's a balance. I'm controlling what I'm doing to a certain extent, and then I'm allowing other voices to be a part of the process. And that's really fun.How did the recording process as a whole differ from the last two albums?
Well, Cole Mardsen Greif-Neill produced the record with me. Before that, I made demos for a year and a half and recorded them. It was really crazy because in the past I would record the final versions of songs myself, whereas this time I felt more free to play around with the demos, and then do something more intricate when the time came. I was able to focus on one thing at a time, and that was key to the record.Those original demos are very much like the album's final versions. I really had a clear vision of what I wanted before we recorded, so that made things much easier. And then I shared them with Cole, and to my pleasure it made all kinds of work for him. It was good to work with him because he's worked with Nite Jewel and Ariel Pink, and other people who've recorded on their own and then moved into a studio. He knows that transition well. So, we actually recorded all of my keyboard parts at my house, and then we recorded my vocals at his house. We did those things after we recorded all of the other instruments, so that I had the freedom to try different things so that it wasn't so much like we had the pressure of being in a professional studio, where we'd be on the clock.It was just six days in the studio with the musicians, then months of going back and forth with me playing with tracks at home, Cole working on his own, and then us coming together and recording crazy new parts.Did all of the demos make it onto the album?
All of them. Everything was pretty much figured out before we recorded.I want to talk about "Maxims I" and "Maxims II". Does a thread connect those two tracks aside from the similar titles?
Yes. Both songs involve this one situation that happens in different ways. It's like a girl entering a restaurant and everyone is staring at her and gossiping. The first one is a welcoming, dreamy type of thing since it's the beginning of the record. The next one, which comes toward the end of the record, is much more unpleasant, in-your-face, and aggressive.Based on that, would it be fair to say that the tracks are almost a soundtrack to these real-time experiences of the observer and observed?
Yes.I want to talk about your use of ambiance on "Hello Stranger." There is this great interplay between harmony and dissonance. Were you thinking about that when recording the song?
I recorded a cover of it originally in 2009, which had the same quality, where it starts pretty consonant and it becomes more dissonant. And it even had a drum beat at the end. On the album version I took out the drums, which really wasn't my plan, and left in that transition from kind of simple to something messy, complicated, and dark.I want to go back to "Maxims II" for a moment. When I first heard that track I thought of Van Dyke Parks. Then I heard jazz and even industrial music in the song. And I'm talking about very early industrial, with its very particular textures and rhythms. It seems like you inadvertently managed to fuse Van Dyke Parks and industrial music. [laughs]
Yeah, I don't know any Van Dyke Parks, but everyone I know talks about him, and I've heard about him a lot. So, I'm going to go buy that music right now because I think I'll like it if everyone keeps telling me about him. [laughs]On "In the Green Wild," there is this nice balance between acoustic and synthesized instrumentation.
That's something important to me, though I don't mean for it to be. It's not like it's a principle. I listen to a lot of music that is purely synth-based, and I also listen to music that is purely acoustic, and then music that fuses them. I find when I'm making music I like to have a balance. And there is something about the noise that you get from acoustic sound that I like a lot. The reason is complicated and doesn't have to do with much more than just pure sound and richness. It's just a very different harmonic structure in acoustic versus synthesized.I also like the complication of acoustic. I like the noise and atmosphere you get—it's literally in a recording. You would also get noise coming through a wire in recording electronics, but it's a different type of noise. For me, atmosphere is so important.The reason I brought that up is because there is a stringed instrument played somewhat harshly in that song, which you ping-pong off synth notes that almost have a stringed quality to them.
Yeah! I love working with timbres that are somewhat similar, but maybe one is electronic and one is acoustic. One thing I've also noticed—in analyzing my music in retrospect—is that in previous records I used a lot more vocal layers. And I think the reason for that is I was recording it all myself, and I didn't have other instruments. I just had the keyboard. I did record the cello, but it wasn't very good. [laughs] You'll find on this record that I didn't use as many vocal layers. I wasn't conscious of it. But, I think the reason for that is because I had other acoustic instruments to work with.Were there any non-musical ideas or experiences that found their way into the record?
On every song there was a very specific thing happening in my mind. In "Horns Surrounding Me," for instance, I'm getting chased by paparazzi in my mind. I live in LA, but I've only seen that happen a few times because I stay away from Hollywood. I could go on because every song has a very specific non-musical situation.The reason I chose to cover "Hello Stranger" is because there is a scene in the Gigi musical that is very similar in a certain way. It's where two people are reminiscing about a past romance they had, and they can't remember it quite right. Barbara Lewis's "Hello Stranger" is also vague in a way. It's about remembering something from the past, but there is not a lot of information about it. The central idea in a lot of the songs is the individual kind of lost in society, trying to figure out what to do, and being kind of at odds with that. Everyone can kind of relate to that in some way.Follow DJ on Twitter - @djpangburn
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Julia Holter: It was just an ensemble with saxophone, trombone, cello, and some other instruments. Then me on synths.And you have some experience composing for players?
I studied composition for six years, so it was something I was used to. On the other hand, when I was in school, I was pretty confused, and I didn't really make music I liked. So, my experience working with musicians was limited because I was a little scared. Then I started recording my own music and retreated, becoming a solitary person writing and recording everything myself.So, working with musicians on this album was new in some ways and not new in other ways. It was new in that I was doing something I was really, really ready for and excited about. It was also the most efficient situation in which to make music that is challenging and fun.Right, when you work solo at a home studio, as you've done in the past, you have total control. And you can build up a method or approach—one that can then be used later in a recording studio in front of producers, engineers, and players.
Yeah, it's a balance. I'm controlling what I'm doing to a certain extent, and then I'm allowing other voices to be a part of the process. And that's really fun.
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Well, Cole Mardsen Greif-Neill produced the record with me. Before that, I made demos for a year and a half and recorded them. It was really crazy because in the past I would record the final versions of songs myself, whereas this time I felt more free to play around with the demos, and then do something more intricate when the time came. I was able to focus on one thing at a time, and that was key to the record.Those original demos are very much like the album's final versions. I really had a clear vision of what I wanted before we recorded, so that made things much easier. And then I shared them with Cole, and to my pleasure it made all kinds of work for him. It was good to work with him because he's worked with Nite Jewel and Ariel Pink, and other people who've recorded on their own and then moved into a studio. He knows that transition well. So, we actually recorded all of my keyboard parts at my house, and then we recorded my vocals at his house. We did those things after we recorded all of the other instruments, so that I had the freedom to try different things so that it wasn't so much like we had the pressure of being in a professional studio, where we'd be on the clock.It was just six days in the studio with the musicians, then months of going back and forth with me playing with tracks at home, Cole working on his own, and then us coming together and recording crazy new parts.
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All of them. Everything was pretty much figured out before we recorded.I want to talk about "Maxims I" and "Maxims II". Does a thread connect those two tracks aside from the similar titles?
Yes. Both songs involve this one situation that happens in different ways. It's like a girl entering a restaurant and everyone is staring at her and gossiping. The first one is a welcoming, dreamy type of thing since it's the beginning of the record. The next one, which comes toward the end of the record, is much more unpleasant, in-your-face, and aggressive.Based on that, would it be fair to say that the tracks are almost a soundtrack to these real-time experiences of the observer and observed?
Yes.I want to talk about your use of ambiance on "Hello Stranger." There is this great interplay between harmony and dissonance. Were you thinking about that when recording the song?
I recorded a cover of it originally in 2009, which had the same quality, where it starts pretty consonant and it becomes more dissonant. And it even had a drum beat at the end. On the album version I took out the drums, which really wasn't my plan, and left in that transition from kind of simple to something messy, complicated, and dark.I want to go back to "Maxims II" for a moment. When I first heard that track I thought of Van Dyke Parks. Then I heard jazz and even industrial music in the song. And I'm talking about very early industrial, with its very particular textures and rhythms. It seems like you inadvertently managed to fuse Van Dyke Parks and industrial music. [laughs]
Yeah, I don't know any Van Dyke Parks, but everyone I know talks about him, and I've heard about him a lot. So, I'm going to go buy that music right now because I think I'll like it if everyone keeps telling me about him. [laughs]
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That's something important to me, though I don't mean for it to be. It's not like it's a principle. I listen to a lot of music that is purely synth-based, and I also listen to music that is purely acoustic, and then music that fuses them. I find when I'm making music I like to have a balance. And there is something about the noise that you get from acoustic sound that I like a lot. The reason is complicated and doesn't have to do with much more than just pure sound and richness. It's just a very different harmonic structure in acoustic versus synthesized.I also like the complication of acoustic. I like the noise and atmosphere you get—it's literally in a recording. You would also get noise coming through a wire in recording electronics, but it's a different type of noise. For me, atmosphere is so important.The reason I brought that up is because there is a stringed instrument played somewhat harshly in that song, which you ping-pong off synth notes that almost have a stringed quality to them.
Yeah! I love working with timbres that are somewhat similar, but maybe one is electronic and one is acoustic. One thing I've also noticed—in analyzing my music in retrospect—is that in previous records I used a lot more vocal layers. And I think the reason for that is I was recording it all myself, and I didn't have other instruments. I just had the keyboard. I did record the cello, but it wasn't very good. [laughs] You'll find on this record that I didn't use as many vocal layers. I wasn't conscious of it. But, I think the reason for that is because I had other acoustic instruments to work with.Were there any non-musical ideas or experiences that found their way into the record?
On every song there was a very specific thing happening in my mind. In "Horns Surrounding Me," for instance, I'm getting chased by paparazzi in my mind. I live in LA, but I've only seen that happen a few times because I stay away from Hollywood. I could go on because every song has a very specific non-musical situation.The reason I chose to cover "Hello Stranger" is because there is a scene in the Gigi musical that is very similar in a certain way. It's where two people are reminiscing about a past romance they had, and they can't remember it quite right. Barbara Lewis's "Hello Stranger" is also vague in a way. It's about remembering something from the past, but there is not a lot of information about it. The central idea in a lot of the songs is the individual kind of lost in society, trying to figure out what to do, and being kind of at odds with that. Everyone can kind of relate to that in some way.Follow DJ on Twitter - @djpangburn