Julia Holter
Have You in My Wilderness
Domino
Soothing and gently unsettling at once, Julia Holter’s beguiling fourth album could be the elusive music you hear in an intense but puzzling dream. The Los Angeles native’s graceful chamber pop is distinguished by an appealing lightness of touch, both in the string-centric arrangements and her placid vocals, with occasional detours into Nico-like gravity. While artfully crafted lyrics abound, they never diminish the primal power of the hypnotic melodies, tending more to delicate allusion—note the recurring aquatic imagery—than literal insistence, aside from the anguished query “What did I do to make you feel so bad?” Offering different subtle pleasures with each hearing, Have You in My Wilderness promises to have a long shelf life.
