Stephen Mejias

Julia Holter’s new album, Loud City Song, is scheduled to be released on August 20th, by Domino. This is Holter’s third album in as many years: Her limited-release debut, Tragedy (recently given proper and deserving reissue treatment by Domino), was met by almost universal critical acclaim, while her follow-up, Ekstasis, expanded her sound, solidified her standing as one of today’s most exciting young artists, and was one of my favorite records of 2012.

From the label:

The songs that make up Loud City Song have origins that pre-date 2011’s debut Tragedy&#151coaxed out and finessed as demos in Holter’s bedroom studio and then finally coalesced into one thrillingly cohesive experience in the latter stages of 2012 by Holter and co-producer Cole Marsden Grief-Neill and an ensemble of Los Angeles musicians. The result is an album of enormous ambition&#151Holter taking inspiration from Collette’s 1944 novella Gigi and using it as a prism through which to explore her relationship with her hometown of Los Angeles and modern life universally, taking cues from the work of Joni Mitchell and the poetry of Frank O’Hara, but forging those touch-points into something resolutely unique.

Loud City Song is Holter’s first proper studio release. And, judging by “World,” the album’s stark and lovely opener, it may very well be Holter’s most direct and powerful.

Last March, I got to see Julia Holter perform live for a tightly packed crowd of enthusiastic listeners at Other Music. She was charming, with the kind of captivating energy seemingly reserved for only the most special voices, but also kind, warm, and gracious.

Her summer tour, in support of Loud City Song, will take her from Washington, DC, to London, England:

7/11: Washington, DC&#151Sixth & I Synagogue
7/12: New York City, NY&#151Le Poisson Rouge
7/13: Philadelphia, PA&#151World Cafe Live
7/14: Boston, MA&#151The Church Of Boston
7/16: Montreal, QB&#151La Sala Rosa
7/17: Toronto, ONT&#151The Drake
7/18: Detroit, MI&#151Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
7/20: Chicago, IL&#151Pitchfork Festival
7/23: Lisbon, PT&#151ZDB
7/24: Madrid, ES&#151Theatro Lara
7/25: Cartagena, ES&#151La Mar De Musicas
7/26: Barcelona, ES&#151Caixaforum
7/27: Lyon, FR&#151Les Nuits De Fourvieres
7/29: Ravenna, IT&#151Hani-Bi
7/30: Modena, IT&#151Sant Augustino
7/31: Geneva, CH&#151Ecoutes Au Vert @ Barje Des Sciences
8/03: Katowice, PL&#151OFF Festival
8/04: Zilnia, SK&#151Stanica
8/05: Vienna, AT&#151WUK
8/07: Basel, CH&#151Im Fluss Festival
8/08: Haldern-Rees, DE&#151Haldern Pop
8/09: Hamburg, DE&#151Kampnagel Summerfest
8/10: Goteborg, SE&#151Way Out West
8/11: Helsinki, FI&#151Flow Festival
8/13: Ghent, BE&#151DOK
8/14: Saint Malo, FR&#151La Route Du Rock Festival
8/16: Brecon, UK&#151Green Man Festival
8/17: Skipton, UK&#151Beacons Festival
8/20: London, UK&#151Cecil Sharp House