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Feb 12, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Julia Holter

Julia Holter released a new album, Aviary, last fall via Domino. It was our Album of the Week and made the Top 10 in our Top 100 Albums of 2018 list. Now she has shared a new video for “Les Jeux to You.” Geneva Jacuzzi directed the surreal black & white clip, which stars Holter and Tashi Wada. Watch it below, followed by Holter’s upcoming tour dates.

Geneva Jacuzzi had this to say about the video in a press release: “After I heard ‘Les Jeux to You,’ images from Fando Y Lis, a film that has always haunted me, flooded my mind and I knew we had to reimagine it. Set in a dystopian future past, the two lovers escape to a mythical city and along the way are confronted with both terrifying figures of the unconscious and joyful memories of the past that accelerate a descent into madness. As a female artist, I felt the need to explore the anima of this myth and reinscribe the imagery as a mode of empowerment of the feminine directorial gaze. I knew it would be a challenge because it is a controversial film, but it was particularly unsettling to read the recent allegations against its director Alejandro Jodorowsky shortly after we made the video. It made me think more about the project and ultimately reinforced my original intention of reframing the work as a complex and nuanced take on the psychology of self-destructive relationships. There is a mysterious essence to this story, a sort of psycho-spiritual unravelling that I connect to the surrealist poetry of Julia’s lyrics and music.”

Read our rave review of Aviary.

Previously Holter shared a video for Aviary‘s first single, “I Shall Love 2” (which was our #1 Song of the Week). Then she shared another new song from the album, “Words I Heard,” also via a video (and it was also our #1 Song of the Week). Once the album was released, album track “I Shall Love 1” also made our Songs of the Week list. She also shared a making of documentary about the creation of the album. Then she shared a video from “Whether.”

Aviary was initially inspired by a line from a 2009 short story by writer Etel Adnan: “I found myself in an aviary full of shrieking birds.” A previous press release pointed out that it’s a good metaphor for the daily bad news cycle we currently find ourselves in, especially in the modern political climate. “Amidst all the internal and external babble we experience daily, it’s hard to find one’s foundation,” Holter elaborated in the press release. “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.”

Holter later added: “In a lot of the songs, when I mention love, it’s about a seeking for compassion and humility in a world where it feels like empathy is always being tested.”

Read our 2015 interview with Holter.

Julia Holter Tour Dates:

02/19 - Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall *
02/20 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts *
02/22 - New York, NY @ Warsaw *
02/23 - Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall *
02/24 - Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa *
02/26 - Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall *
02/27 - Detroit, MI @ El Club *
02/28 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
03/01 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
03/04 - Vancouver, BC @ Imperial ^
03/05 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir ^
03/06 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos ^
03/08 - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall ^
03/09 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room ^
03/10 - San Diego, CA @ The Loft, San Diego State University ^
05/27 - Guimaraes, Portugal @ Centro Cultural Villa Flor
05/28 - Garda, Italy @ Teatro Municipal de Guarda
05/29 - Lisbon, Portugal @ Capitólio
05/31 - Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound Festival
06/02 - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands @ Best Kept Secret Festival
06/03 - Brighton, UK @ The Old Market
06/04 - Birmingham, UK @ Glee Club
06/07 - London, UK @ Field Day Festival
06/08 - Paris, FR @ Vilette Sonique
06/09 - Luxembourg @ Rotondes
06/12 - Bergen, Norway @ Bergen Festival
06/13 - Oslo. Norway @ Piknik I Parken
06/16 - Duisburg, Germany @ Traumzeit Festival
06/17 - Schörndorf, Germany @ Manufaktur
06/20 - Linz, Austria @ Rosengarten
06/21 - Vienna, Austria @ WUK
06/23 - Milan, Italy @ Magnolia
06/24 - Ferrara, Italy @ Cortile Castello Estense
06/25 - Zurich, Switzerland @ Kaufleuten
06/26 - Lucerne, Switzerland @ Südpol
06/29 - Bialystok, Poland @ Halfway Festival
07/04 - Roskilde, Denmark @ Roskilde Festival

* w/ Jessica Moss
^ w/ Tess Roby

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