• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • 5 DOUBLE-U’S
    • MASTHEAD
    • DISTRIBUTION
    • ADVERTISE
    • SUBMISSIONS
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG Year End 2020

HAVE YOU IN MY WILDERNESS: JULIA HOLTER MAKES MAGIC FROM MESSES

Written by NINA CORCORAN Posted March 2, 2016 Filed Under: Interviews, MUSIC

Photo by Tonje Thilesen
Photo by Tonje Thilesen

Julia Holter may live in Los Angeles, but the experimental dream pop musician is easier to catch live in Europe than she is on the east coast. Critically, she sees her fans spread far and wide across the globe. Financially, she makes more money playing in Europe because of the crowds she draws. The last Boston show she played her was in 2013 during a muggy summer day to a couple dozen people in now-defunct venue Church.

 

“It’s not because I don’t love my country,” she laughs when I ask her. “I like touring. It’s not bad, but it’s not cozy or easy. Writing isn’t either. Sometimes with writing and recording, there’s a lot more agony and self-hatred… and performing is not quite that.” She laughs again and shakes her head a bit. “It’s complicated.”

 

Holter pours endless hours into her work. With last year’s Have You In My Wilderness, her catalog now runs four albums deep since her debut in 2011. She’s a workhorse, but her music—a collection of fairy-like synth, soft drumline rolls, and twinkling electronics—masks those efforts in an airiness of ease.

 

“I think I’m just a writer sort of person,” Holter says a bit modestly. “I call my place where I work ‘my office,’ not a ‘studio.’” Fair enough. Her office isn’t outfitted like a studio. There’s no fancy sound cushioning. There’s no gaff tape on the floor. There are, however, plenty of crumpled manuscript notes and chipped pencils – the latter of which indicates her tendency to edit what’s already been written, the freedom to change miniature things, to erase what felt like a good idea days ago but today sounds off. “The erasers are all so old that they don’t work anymore and there’s pen’s that don’t work,” she laughs. “There’s a piano, a harmonium maybe, a cello, and papers. It’s totally messy. That’s kind of how I am.”

 

 

Have You In My Wilderness shifts away from a single protagonist to tell the story of multiple characters. It’s a Grimms’ Fairy Tale book – and Holter is clearly the storyteller. Light research was required to draft their backstories, be it flipping through Greek mythology texts or diving into the blackhole that is Wikipedia. “A lot of the time what happens is I happen to be reading a story and I decide to make something out of it because something will grab me about a character; I want to develop them,” she says. “I have to look things up if I’m unsure, if I don’t really understand the way the world is. Sometimes I check myself like: Does this image that just came out of the back of my head make sense? Is this a phrase you would use? Things like that. It’s kind of like everything involves research in a way.”

 

Despite the verbose nature of her music, for Holter, it’s all about notes: the way they interact, the ways in which they fall, the ways in which they morph. It’s the belief that words are notes in themselves. “Some words are different than [other] words,” she explains. “They’re not actually words anymore. They turn into sound, and their meaning is going to be clouded because they’ve turned into something else. I don’t have a specific article to cite here, but I think I’ve read about people with strokes don’t remember how to speak, but they can sing. There’s something scientific behind the human perception of words versus sung words and that those are two different things. It doesn’t become language anymore.”

 

For her, songs aren’t about focusing on a character. They’re about the trip the character goes on, much of which is portrayed thru the progression of melodies and interaction of instruments. On Have You In My Wilderness, she collaborated with Cole Marsden Grief-Neill to nail that production. The lush, cozy side of the record comes from his magic on the strings and track organization. “He’s really good at making decisions for takes, which is a hard thing for me to do,” Holter says of Marsden Grief-Neill. After his handiwork, the ‘60s-style ballads solidify their backbones. “He’s the one who really chose what takes are on the record, which is a huge deal. It’s hard for me to make decisions like that sometimes. He’s got a great mind for that attention to detail.”

 

 

When Julia Holter takes over Great Scott this Sunday, concertgoers are in for a treat. Not only do her songs come alive in a live setting, but they melt into a shimmering pool of free, glossy, cushioned pop perfect for spring. “Each musician makes his or her own choice about what to do in every moment,” she admits. You’ll just have to show up in person to see what they do this time around.

 

JULIA HOLTER, CIRCUIT DES YEUX. SUN 3.6. GREAT SCOTT,1222 COMM. AVE., ALLSTON. 9PM/18+/$15. GREATSCOTTBOSTON.COM.

NINA CORCORAN
More from author
  • NINA CORCORAN
    https://digboston.com/author/nina-corcoran/
    WHEEL OF TUNES: JULIA HOLTER
  • NINA CORCORAN
    https://digboston.com/author/nina-corcoran/
    WHEEL OF TUNES: PANDA BEAR
  • NINA CORCORAN
    https://digboston.com/author/nina-corcoran/
    WHEEL OF TUNES: HOP ALONG
  • NINA CORCORAN
    https://digboston.com/author/nina-corcoran/
    THE BEST LOCAL EPS OF 2018

Filed Under: Interviews, MUSIC Tagged With: 1960s, 2016, Allston, Boston, church, Cole Marsden Grief-Neill, Dig, DigBoston, Dream Pop, Experimental, great scott, Have You In My Wilderness, Interview, Julia Holter, Los Angeles, Music

WHAT’S NEW

2021 Biden inauguration Boston

PHOTOS & RECAP: “NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN” RALLY IN BOSTON

2020 Indian farmers' protest - On a truck. Photo CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain by Randeep Maddoke, randeepphotoartist@gmail.com.

OPINION: IS DISSENT ANTI-NATIONALISM OR PATRIOTISM?

WU ASSERTS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ARTS IN HER CAMPAIGN

WU ASSERTS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ARTS IN HER CAMPAIGN

STREET MEDICS BOLSTER PROTESTS IN MORE WAYS THAN YOU MAY REALIZE

STREET MEDICS BOLSTER PROTESTS IN MORE WAYS THAN YOU MAY REALIZE

HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO APPEASE A CONTROVERSIAL COP

HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO APPEASE A CONTROVERSIAL COP

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. HONORED, SPEAKERS ADDRESS RACISM

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. HONORED, SPEAKERS ADDRESS RACISM

Primary Sidebar

HEMPIRE FREEDOM PACK 25% OFF

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • APPOINTED SOMERVILLE OFFICIAL SPURS OUTRAGE WITH TWEETS FROM DC MOB SCENE by MARC LEVY
  • Aerial View Parkman Bandstand at Boston Common. CC BY-SA 4.0 2017 by AbhiSuryawanshi. NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN: 1/20 PROTEST ON BOSTON COMMON, 4 PM by MATTHEW ANDREWS
  • VIDEO: COP WHO BRAGGED THAT HE HIT PROTESTERS SHOWS HOW BAD APPLES THRIVE IN BOSTON by CHRIS FARAONE
  • PRISON HORRORS BY THE NUMBERS by SARAH BETANCOURT
  • IT’S HARDER THAN EVER TO FIND A BATHROOM IN BOSTON. WHAT’S THE CITY DOING ABOUT IT? by ZACK HUFFMAN

READ CURRENT MEMBER EDITION

DIG Member 1.9 – 11/26/20

READ CURRENT STREET ISSUE

DIG Year End 2020

Footer

digbos

“Trump was voted out. However, this is not a man “Trump was voted out. However, this is not a mandate for #Biden and #Harris.” https://digboston.com/photos-recap-no-honeymoon-for-biden-rally-in-boston/ #photo #rally #march #left #protest #inauguration #Boston #Massachusetts
OPINION: IS DISSENT ANTI-NATIONALISM OR PATRIOTISM OPINION: IS DISSENT ANTI-NATIONALISM OR PATRIOTISM? #Boston #protest for Indian farmers, Saturday 1/23/21, 12-1 pm at the #Massachusetts State House https://digboston.com/opinion-is-dissent-anti-nationalism-or-patriotism/ #India #politics #food #farmer #protest #justice #solidarity @monica_gill1
HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO A HOW ONE MASS TOWN TOOK EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES TO APPEASE A CONTROVERSIAL COP https://digboston.com/no-justice-how-officials-in-one-mass-town-took-extraordinary-measures-to-appease-a-controversial-cop/ #ArlingtonMA #police #reform #cop #racism #controversy #BlackLivesMatter #Massachusetts
Ghost kitchens simply don’t have a need for host Ghost kitchens simply don’t have a need for hosts, servers, bartenders, bussers … What happens to those #jobs if virtual kitchens continue to flourish? https://digboston.com/ghost-story-virtual-kitchens-appear-to-be-the-next-big-thing-but-at-what-cost/ #restaurant #labor #work #Boston #Massachusetts #coronavirus #COVID19
“I don’t think we’re going to wake up on Jan “I don’t think we’re going to wake up on Jan. 7 in the same country we went to bed in on the 6th.” https://digboston.com/former-mass-gubernatorial-candidate-predicted-violence-before-assault-on-capitol/ #politics #Massachusetts #national #Capitol #WashingtonDC #MAGA
RADICAL AND RELEVANT: THE LIFE OF HARRY BRILL http RADICAL AND RELEVANT: THE LIFE OF HARRY BRILL https://digboston.com/radical-and-relevant-the-life-of-harry-brill/ #obituary #organizer #radical #sociologist #democracy #politics @UMassBoston @BklynCollege411 @UCBerkeley #Boston #Massachusetts #NewYorkCity #Berkeley #California
NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN: 1/20 #PROTEST ON BOSTON CO NO HONEYMOON FOR BIDEN: 1/20 #PROTEST ON BOSTON COMMON, 4 PM https://digboston.com/no-honeymoon-for-biden-1-20-protest-on-boston-common-4-pm/ #opinion #progressive #left #action #inauguration #Boston #Massachusetts
Light and sweet and hoppy, we’re loving this lat Light and sweet and hoppy, we’re loving this latest incarnation of a #beer that’s been in the making for months. https://digboston.com/video-jacks-abby-x-boston-celtics-pride-and-parquet-hoppy-lager-unboxing-tasting/ #fun #video #review #Boston #Massachusetts
Jostling for position and influence are the disadv Jostling for position and influence are the disadvantaged candidates, existing industry participants, and municipalities … https://digboston.com/the-road-to-home-delivery-pt-5-dogs-in-the-fight-identifying-the-players/ #cannabis #politics #analysis #Massachusetts
The candidates will be interviewed about the upcom The candidates will be interviewed about the upcoming race. https://digboston.com/wu-and-campbell-to-speak-at-mayoral-candidate-webinar/ #politics #mayor #campaign #Boston #Massachusetts
Load More... Follow on Instagram
Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Submissions

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]