Julia Holter is a transformative songwriter. On her seventh album, she transforms her song Materia, from previous record Something in the Room She Moves, into two new versions. Materia 2 is a relaxed update, uniquely abandoning the original’s stark keyboards for a feathery atmosphere backed by a drum machine and faint jazz leanings (Devra Hoff’s fretless bass is a fine friend to her throughout the album, just ask The Laugh Is in the Eyes). Materia 3 reclaims keyboards but zooms in on Julia’s voice, which evokes a children’s choir, despite this being one woman we’re listening to. Mad shit.
Yet the most remarkable arrangements of Materia belong to its newer compositions. Holter’s love of the abstract and nonlinear births vast, unconfigurable landscapes like interpretive paintings come to life. It is, first and foremost, interesting how she uses space in her recordings, especially on My Twin, which pans enchanting background echoes to one side, soon placed alongside crying vocalisations, and a recurring, plucking keyboard patch on the other side as Julia’s charmed voice takes centre stage. Momentum, and grander, clearer chord changes grace the piece as it moves, like the sudden arrival of an unexpected friend.
That’s not to mention the spritely section of Fantasy in which fretless bass notes begin jumping out of the speakers like chunky grasshoppers, or the chorus of My Lost One, which dramatically dances in the wilderness as Julia boasts some of her clearer melodies, basses continue to jump, and flutes massage the skies around her like a surprising tribute to hippie-era folk rock. The latter also contains a galloping accelerando at its climax, completely losing control, disavowing conservatism.
The album is, indeed, a companion LP to Something in the Room She Moves, but its fresher, non-Materia songs are far more indicative of the grandness, the splendour, and musical intellect of Julia Holter than her recycling. These are the songs that keep Materia from feeling only like an album of bonus content. They give it its own wings, its own shape, its own, new sense of transformation, that has allowed me to enjoy it almost as much as its predecessor. That’s right, I am a Materia girl.
Best tracks – My Lost One – Fantasy – My Twin.
Rating – 7.5 out of 10
