Julia Holter on Love, Loss and the Stasis in Between

Los Angeles based composer Julia Holter took the time to answer a few questions in advance of her new record tour, Have You In My Wilderness. 

We spoke early in the morning, of apocalyptic Wi-Fi-free worlds and muddily recollected dreams. Through intermittent morning yawns and long, pensive musings  — Julia talked of her recent collaboration with Matt Mondanile (Ducktails) on his newest record St. Catherine. 

She doesn’t always know exactly what influences her, she just knows it’s there.

Have You In My Wilderness are a misty collection of vignettes — small, jolting moments of love and loss and the stasis in between: “I’ll hand him his coat / It’s exactly where he left it long ago.” Here, there’s a certain, translucent kind of agony usually only found in antediluvian Grecian tragedies or ‘50s french musicals while still leaping from the obvious, the overdone: “Tell me, why do I feel you running away?” We’re grounded in reality but miles and minutes away from it.

Despite the orchestral, centered nature of Have You In My Wilderness, there’s a still a certain opacity to the lyricism. It’s not blunt or digested and it won’t quite be said outright, but it’s there — and in the true nature of artistry, you just may be able to hear it in the wind.

Annie Vainshtein is a KCPR DJ and Cal Poly journalism junior.