Sweeping and intimate all at once, Aviary never settles for comforting platitudes or dour resignation. It's honest, it's hopeful, and it's surely among Holter's finest achievements.
With her new record, Aviary, Julia Holter expands her scope to include elements of free improvisation, neo-classical leanings, and folk-induced hallucinations, thereby producing a substantial work of art.
This is a complex, stunning, and challenging record that will undoubtedly alienate some. But if you’ve enjoyed Holter to this point, it is worth investing the necessary time. Aviary touches every corner of her sound, resulting in an enchanting, if slightly dizzying, fifth album.
Holter has always taken pop and presented her own masterful version of it. But her desire to break through the distressing clatter of the present is what makes Aviary her most captivating album yet.
Be warned: a full appreciation of this album requires numerous listens - it offers little at first glance, but the moment you surrender yourself to this fate, all becomes clear.
Aviary benefits from its overlong sprawl, a testament to the art of slowing down and getting lost in a challenging album that has been forgotten in the age of streaming where new releases inundate with their frequency.
If Holter’s preceding records were novellas, Aviary feels more like a meticulously organized compilation of mind-altering field notes in which a single page can be a world, and its depth is stunning.
Surrounded by all this noise, this eternal series of accidents, Holter the poet chooses to process it all and create something beautiful. She chooses to love. Because she must.
A challenging but rewarding album, Aviary continually grasps towards communication, exulting in common humanity amid societal ruptures.
There are many familiar motifs that recall Holter's past work throughout Aviary, from jazzy shuffles to lush baroque flourishes, but never has she connected both new and old techniques with such rich sonic detail.
The majority of Aviary is designed to be mused on mindfully, but there are a handful of more immediate moments.
On Aviary, Holter answers the chaos of 21st century life by following her bliss; the results are a constellation of moments that celebrate the fullness of her music and, as always, make for fascinating listening.
Aviary will be a challenging listen for many, but its message needs to be heard.
This time around she really pushes the limits of her writing into intense and unexpected directions. This said the album feels like a few different records tied together, so it’s easy to lose hold of the record from song to song.
In spite of its demanding length and level of weirdness, Aviary is an incredibly immersive voyage and arguably her greatest achievement. In fact, it wouldn’t be too bold to say this is an Art pop masterpiece via one of the best songwriters alive—it’s just not for everyone, and Holter is ok with that.
Aviary is not a great album – it’s too much of an ordeal for that accolade, requiring multiple listens to even start to engage with meaningfully. But it is, in its own idiosyncratic way, a towering artistic accomplishment. Just be prepared for a hard slog scaling the summit.
Just like birds, Aviary is both beautiful and raucous. It replaces the need for rhythms, choruses and memorable hooks with spacious and unpredictable sonic experimentation and it’s not an easy listen ... Yet experienced in the right atmosphere and mindset it’s a rewarding, dazzling and praiseworthy addition to Holter’s consistently intelligent catalogue.
Perhaps her most opaque record to date, it’s not likely to turn sceptics around. But for those used to Holter’s dazzlingly expansive combination of sometimes jazzy, sometimes baroque orchestration and moody ambience, ‘Aviary’ is an album worth getting to know.
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