Julia doesn’t waste a single second in bringing in tons of luscious instrumentation with “Turn The Light On”. Between this kaleidoscopic and wild instrumentation and Julia’s vocals, there are tons to like here. As far as the instrumental goes, I can barely fathom just how many layers there are to this, it’s overwhelming honestly. But none of this comes off ugly, it’s all just so beautiful and ready to be heard by the world. There are winding strings and triumphant horns and beautiful harps, all together at once. But then we have Julia’s vocals which are angelically hanging over it all, keeping everything in tune. And let me tell you, her vocals have never come off so immediate or powerful. This is an incredible intro. “Whether” does take a little bit more of a structured approach. Or at least, just about as structures as you can get with Julia. I love the very tight synths, and the seemingly infinite palette surrounding her. Like, it’s always so much fun to listen to tracks like this from Julia, because you find new instrumentals with each listen that you may have missed. Then we have Julia’s vocals which once again come off so immediate. One thing I sort of had an issue with Julia’s vocals at times were how timid they were. But because “Have You In My Wilderness” brought her out of her shell so well, she’s stayed out of it. Because this is very upfront and freakish. Call me crazy, but I’m loving this, and Julia just seems so fearless. “Chaitius” continues to be very pleasant and wonderful to hear. On this one, Julia brings in this very refined, warm sound that is just so cool. There’s always been this very retro feel to Julia’s music, and it comes through here in spades. There are these super-warm horns, and Julia’s vocals floating through the background are absolutely mesmerizing. But let’s address the elephant in the room. This is a total departure from where we left Julia a few years ago. She took the more Pop-oriented sound of her latest album, and she went back and tweaked the sound that she got big, to begin with. And the result is tracks like “Chaitius”, which might be a little long winded and patience-testing, but just so inviting. Julia’s vocals performance here is very sporadic and tough to place, and certainly a little out there. But, she’s so good at putting these tracks together. And not to mention, when this track explodes towards the finale, it’s incredibly euphoric. It’s music you really have to put your brain on for, but the rewards are wild. For wildly experimental Pop music, this is scratching all sorts of itches. On the other hand, “Voce Simul” is much more patience-testing right off the bat. But let me tell you, I absolutely love just how smokey and mysterious this is. Julia has almost always been very close to the edge of darkness, or there was seemingly a slightly dark edge to her music. And this is no different, even darker in fact. We get some very David Lynch-ian horns slowly making their way through the background, alongside some very graceful harps. All of this is playing second fiddle however to Julia’s mesmerizing, incredible vocal performance which is equal parts steamy and mysterious. Once again, this is a lot to sit through at points but so worth it. Now, “Everyday Is an Emergency” is a wake-up call. With all of the very slow-paced and refined material here, this is a major turn around. This starts off instantly with all of these very hectic, strange horns all blaring at once that end up coming off like some alarm or siren. And no, it’s really not that flattering at all. As a matter of fact, it’s kind of annoying. And it goes on for literally 4 minutes. And it’s such a shame because when that all quiets we get this very sweet, heartfelt ballad from Julia which may be one of her most straightforward and likable material here. I love the warm pianos and the throwback synths and the loneliness of this one. I mean, I guess sitting through the first few minutes of whatever the hell that was made me appreciate this a whole lot more, but I don’t know if that’s a good thing.
But with “Another Dream”, Julia does seem to get back in her groove. I actually really love hearing her deal with these very spacey and weird synths. They really add an interesting dynamic as they rattle on beneath Julia’s very sweet vocal performances and the angelic harps. It ends up making for this sort of clash of styles, the absolute serenity of Julia and the more Baroque elements of this, and the absolute coldness of the more electronic elements. You never really know what you’re going to hear. Like, here there’s a sort of slow groove building up this entire time, but that doesn’t shock me at all. But Julia just ends up tying everything together with this absolutely stunning vocal performance that’s just so warm and cozy. Julia continues to go for a lot more synthetic sounding tracks like “I Shall Love 2”. But I've yet to be 100% disappointed by any tracks with that backdrop here, so it’s fine by me. Julia’s vocals here are so soft and sweet but on the more monotone side. But to be honest, she really makes it work with just how hypnotic her performance is. It really does reel you in with these very lavish instrumentals, and the continued infinite layering of everything. Not to mention, the evolution of these tracks as they roll on and on is just so interesting. Like, this one started pretty cold and hypnotic. But by the end of the this, Julia practically has me crying with just how passionate and beautiful this is. This is quite an ambitious undertaking. The more electronic elements of this album continue with “Underneath the Moon”, and it’s still a very slick sound. But some of the material that follows on this track is questionable. Now, I don’t have a problem with jamming out a bit. Hell, there are actually some really cool elements to this, like the plucked guitars that pop in occasionally, and that wall of drone that sort of makes it’s way in is pretty stunning. This one eventually does shape up a bit. But the amount of confusion here is a little disheartening. Like, all of these instrumentals for once don’t really seem like they’re nearly as organized. Julia just sadly seems a little off. And it’s a shame, because when this track is on, it’s actually really stunning, especially that chorus. But Julia continues to grab my heat instantly with tracks like “Colligere”. I love just how incredibly emotional this one is, between these horns and strings everything just sounds so lied to and bruised. In cases like this, Julias’s experimentation and fearlessness have reached a peak. Her vocals here are once again, on the weird side. But they’re still so subtle and half of the time surreal, you can’t remember if they were even there or not. And yes, there is a little David Lynch feel once again. But I’m telling you, Julia’s dense atmosphere and her long history with Ambient-work just makes this so stunning. This album is gripping, but it’s also so damn delicate. But it’s these quiet moments like “In Gardens’ Muteness” that really make Julia’s performances pop. Like, here this is just a straight up, classic ballad here. Julia sounds absolutely incredible. As far as vocal performances go, this is EASILY performance of the album. Instrumentally though, this is a little bit of a letdown, mostly because of just how dense and vibrant this album started off. But hey, this is still gorgeous.
You know, one thing I do seem to keep returning to, is just how sorrowful and deeply sad this album comes off at times. “I Would Rather See” is just so lonely sounding with everything from Julia’s very somber performance to the very dreary instrumentals. Once again, this album certainly has cooled its jets with experimentation. But this is what we’re getting as a cohesive sound, Julia is pulling out some wonderful sounds. I love just how deep and vast this one comes off. The atmosphere just sounds completely limitless, and the instrumentals that pop in seemingly poking their head through a fog. Now, this album has really gotten very mellow. It’s almost coming off slowly like a Dream Pop album, with a lot of this reminding me of the new Beach House. But, it is still incredibly pleasant on the ears and absolutely sweet. I love the experimental, truly wonky feel of “Les Jeux to You”. Like, Julia is absolutely sounding out there here. Her lyrics and performance are bizarre, and honestly, this may be one of the fun tracks I’ve ever heard out of Julia. But hey, it absolutely works for me. And I love just how progressive this is and how many genuinely interesting passages this has. All systems go on this sound, and I love how elegant this ends up. And with “Words I Heard” things just get even more dramatic, which is something I really didn’t think was possible. But the truth is, this track is just so up-front and in-your-face. You don’t have to wait for 3-minutes for this one to get going, not that that was a bad thing. But it’s refreshing to hear Julia in such a warm and sweet atmosphere. But like, her performance is absolutely stunning here, when her vocals are upfront I remember just how much I loved her last album. And yes, this is a far cry from that. But this is the sort of cinematic, emotional performance I crave from her. On the other hand, “I Shall Love 1” is an absolutely ghoulish track. Between Julia’s chanting and the very freakish instrumentals, this is massive. Compared to its sister track, this one is much much more straightforward. Now, a lot of people have compared her to Nico in the past and this actually does end up coming off like a sort of updated Velvet Underground & Nico recording. And honestly, it’s just as majestic and eye-opening. It’s hulking, it’s massive, it’s meditative, and it’s giving me the same sort of hypnotic feels that some people get from listening to Swans. So right off the bat, it’s pretty clear that we're not getting a big finale from “Why Sad Song”. To be honest, this is actually one of the most abstract and Experimental tunes of the bunch. Almost honestly, a little too much. Sure, occasionally one instrumental pops in that really gives me the chills or at least one that I feel like I haven’t heard in a while. Honestly, this is an alright finale. Her vocals are very smooth and silky and pleasing on the ears. But let’s be real, this doesn’t send anything off. As a matter of fact, these vocals actually sound like they've been ripped out of a number of other tunes here. And that’s fine, but of all of the incredibly lavish sounds we’ve gotten here, this just doesn’t add up. However, I’ll give “Why Sad Song” this. This track is emotionally exhausted, I just wish it was as refined as the rest of the material here.
Rating: 9.0/10
Give A Listen To: “Voce Simul”, “Chaitius”, “I Shall Love 2”, “Colligere”
Least Favorite Track: “Underneath the Moon”
Genre: Baroque Pop / Experimental Pop / Ambient / Dream Pop
Overall Thoughts: Julia Holter returns, ditching the breezy Pop of “Have You In My Wilderness”, but not leaving the songwriting. On “Aviary”, Julia Holter outdoes herself by bringing in a slew of a dreamy, ambient, and incredibly classy set of Pop tunes. These aren’t Pop tunes that are instantaneous, these are tracks that you have to really sit with. But the results are often wild, resulting in these kaleidoscopic moments of euphoria. Julia has played with sound since her debut ages ago, that’s nothing new. But with better songwriting, better production, and some of her most ambitious instrumentals to date, Julia has knocked it out of the park.
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