Julia Holter has called this fourth LP her “weirdo record.” Coming from someone with as laudably odd a catalog, this naturally denotes something of a double negative. After mastering the musical of her mind on Loud City Song—a dream-sequenced interpretive dance inspired by novella/film/ Broadway phenomenon Gigi—what, exactly, constitutes “normal”? Certainly not this, despite loss-leader singles “Sea Calls Me Home” and “Feel You,” Holter’s closest calls with formal pop. The remainder is an airbrushed return to the imagination hinterlands of an expressive impressionist: unawkward silence, seemingly extemporaneous blank verse (what rhymes with “Balearic promontory”?) and nonplussing sonic non sequiturs as prevalent as ambulant bass, Hitchcock strings and the softfocus, felt-tipped insouciance of a French chanteuse. Exceptional exceptions include the kinky “Everytime Boots” and powerhouse “Betsy On The Roof.” Like St. Vincent, Holter invents some conventions just to abandon them.
—Noah Bonaparte Pais
