The composer-producer’s latest album continues her quest to distil feelings we never knew had a name. Kate Putttick learns more 

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Julia Holter’s work is about synthesis in its purest form. The California-based musician is gifted as a lyricist and musical worldbuilder, weaving in literary themes, concepts and reference points, from Greek mythology (Ekstasis) through to belle epoque Paris and the film Gigi (Loud City Song). But she most notably of all shines when it comes to all things phatic and unspoken in both her vocals and composition. Holter’s true genius comes from a process that she describes as akin to “drawing feelings”. The Domino Records artist knows a thing or two about conjuring atmosphere – in both her grandiose performances and the technical skills to translate that to record, as lead producer on most of her discography.

Despite being the child of a folk musician and an academic, her childhood musical turning points will be familiar to many – the Beatles and film music. Educated at the “casual and cool” CalArts as well as the more academically rigid University of Michigan, Holter experienced musical formation in an array of formats. Yet somehow, the kind of virtuosity of expression that Holter possesses is anything but studied. And on the way up her time spent with bedroom synthpop kingpins (Ariel Pink) and eccentric autodidacts (Linda Perhacs, whose backstory deserves its own page) certainly nourished her capacity to embrace the jagged edges of musicianship too.

Moreover, and something that Future Music readers will truly empathise with, is the significance of her discovery of self-production. As she told Financial Times in 2019, “I started recording, and that freed me up a lot. That’s where a turning point happened where I had confidence. I didn’t have to communicate to anyone and I realised that I enjoy expressing myself performance-wise, which I never was aware of. I thought I was an introvert. But I got to express more poetically and freely by recording, and I loved the process.”