Julia Holter’s new album, Aviary, was just released as she announced her first visit to New Zealand for January 24th, 2019 at Auckland’s Tuning Fork. The addition of Ryan McPhun (The Ruby Suns) conjuring up a solo set specifically for this show will have the indie music fans salivating.
Watch ‘The Ruby Suns – Tane Mahuta (official video)’ below.
Architects of the true sound of New Zealand’s summer bliss, The Ruby Suns return from the arctic winters of Norway to imbue the evening with one very special slice of strange sunshine. This will be a rare Ryan “Ruby Suns” McPhun solo show, and his only New Zealand show of 2019*! *probably.
For new initiates to the world of The Ruby Suns, Audio Culture describes the entity as one “who has taken the group from Beach Boys indie pop to leftfield world music through to experimental electronica, always seeking to invest the music with unique sounds and tones”. The Ruby Suns’ indie music heritage developed from playing with The Brunettes, The Tokey Tones and The Reduction Agents. McPhun’s own compositions as The Ruby Suns has spawned indie radio hits, high profile syncs, label signings across his critically acclaimed six album discography.
Although Julia Holter’s name often sits alongside other great contemporary songwriters, Courtney Barnett, Angel Olsen and Sharon van Etten, Holter has carved out her own unique place with her music being described as “art pop’, “Baroque pop” and attracting more direct comparisons to Laurie Anderson, Kate Bush, Joanna Newsom and Stereolab.
Holter’s fifth album is an epic journey through what Julia Holter describes as“the cacophony of the mind in a melting world.” Out on Domino / Universal in NZ, it’s the Los Angeles composer’s most breathtakingly expansive album yet, full of startling turns and dazzling instrumental arrangements. The follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2015 record, Have You in My Wilderness, it takes as its starting point a line from a 2009 short story by writer Etel Adnan: “I found myself in an aviary full of shrieking birds.”
“Amidst all the internal and external babble we experience daily, it’s hard to find one’s foundation,” says Holter. “I think this album is reflecting that feeling of cacophony and how one responds to it as a person – how one behaves, how one looks for love, for solace. Maybe it’s a matter of listening to and gathering the seeming madness, of forming something out of it and envisioning a future.”
Check out Julia Holter’s – Aviary album in full on your fave service here:
https://umusicNZ.lnk.to/
Julia Holter Live Reviews:
“The singer-songwriter cast a spell over the crowd with her cherished characters and carnival of sounds” – ? – UK Guardian
“Holter is still making the best of her well-explored paradox: still enigmatic, still honest.” – 5/5 – UK Independent
“Anyone acquainted with Holter’s live performances will be well aware of their uniqueness, variety, rearrangement and paradoxical sense of highly controlled spontaneity – always leaving room for her tremendously flexible band to improvise on a whim.” – Thequietus.com
Julia Holter – Words I Heard (Official Video)
Julia Holter – I Shall Love 2 (Official Video)
Aviary, is executive produced by Cole MGN and produced by Holter and Kenny Gilmore, combines Holter’s slyly theatrical vocals and Blade Runner-inspired synth work with an enveloping palette of strings and percussion that reveals itself, and the boundless scope of her vision, over the course of fifteen songs. Holter was joined by Corey Fogel (percussion), Devin Hoff (bass), Dina Maccabee (violin, viola, vocals), Sarah Belle Reid (trumpet), Andrew Tholl (violin), and Tashi Wada (synth, bagpipes).
Album Reviews: –
“It represents an astounding step forward in its scope and ambition.” – Tiny Mixtapes 9/10
“Sweeping and intimate all at once, Aviary never settles for comforting platitudes or dour resignation. It’s honest, it’s hopeful, and it’s surely among Holter’s finest achievements” – Exclaim 9/10
“Holter the poet chooses to process it all and create something beautiful.” –Under The Radar 8/10
“Holter’s quest to channel the clatter of the universe produces transcendent beauty” – Uncut 8/10
“frequently brilliant” – Q Magazine 8/10
Julia Holter Online:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Spotify | Apple Music
Ryan McPhun Online:
