Here’s a few facts about the Californian musician Julia Holter: she’s an avant-garde pop maker; she’s inspired by some high brow literature, taking influence from Greek playwrights; and she hangs with the likes of Nite Jewel. It might also be worth mentioning that this, her sophomore record, is probably going to be one of the most inspiring, inventive and other-worldly listens of 2012. In fact, I can’t stop listening to this home-recorded masterpiece.

These are songs that aren’t really songs (in the sense they wander where they want), changing direction, stepping out from their structure and finding their own way home. It starts with Marienbed, a track that quietly sets the tone as it gently waltzes on a sea of choral ambience. The light, instrumental footwork allows Holter to vocally hop and skip, slowly building momentum only to fall into an abyss of reverb, rising again only on a different path.

Instrumentally there are drum machines and synths – all are put down with a warm transparency, so the voice can lead the way. Moments like Boy in the Moon allow the record to widen its vision further, taking on an almost drone-induced backing, synths reaching far beyond the horizon as Holter’s voice becomes a haunting presence.

Goddess Eyes is led with a slight electro rhythm – Holter sways in the music’s soft surroundings. Hints of a vocoder and the jolted beat turns the organic into the robotic, yet maintains the weightlessness the records naturally embraces.

You can imagine Laurie Anderson being the godmother to Holter’s aspiring new sounds – guiding her spiritually – both are clearly free from the normal restraints pop music pushes. Holter is a more than a worthy continuation of the imaginative, precocious and brilliant music Anderson is infamous for – and that is no exaggeration.

-Marnie Reed-

Slipping in and out of consciousness, the only thing you know exists is the base drum. It beats like a heartbeat on every track – the rest flows, floats and cascades like a cinematic daydream. Blondes’ debut is slick and smooth dance music, which whole-heartedly encourages you, the listener, to lay back and lose yourself.

The Brooklyn duo, Sam Haar and Zach Steinman, are patient songwriters, leaving each synth line to slowly ease itself into the track during a generous amount of time. Hater, for instance, hardly changes for its seven-minute lifespan, instead circling on a pumping electro backline and high-end timbres.

Blondes aren’t finding new ground here, but they do occasionally stumble on passages of endless possibilities. The second half of Lover sounds like a tribal war chant has been caught on tape, ably accentuated by the musicians’ use of rhythm and electronics.

Other tracks are far too placid. Water and Pleasure are like set demo patterns on a newly acquired synthesizer – finding little originality, or reason, for me to sit through their extended times. When you write an album of similar BPM’s then surely you need to start thinking on ways to differentiate each track. Thankfully the pair use closer, Amber, to explore new territory. Its deep bass line barely moves, stumbling amid waves of ambient noise and retro-keys.

It’s an album produced to induce, creating trails of a meditative nature, though occasionally losing its way, and showing little intent to push the boundaries of music that is starting to get a little lazy.

-Dave Taylor-