Your Review
CRITIC REVIEWS
86
Ekstasis is not the sort of oceanic wash you lose yourself in; instead, Holter's music has a way of snapping tiny moments and small sonic gestures into focus.
86
Ekstasis is a challenging listen, but a rewarding one. It’s fiercely experimental and aggressively unfamiliar. Yet it’s an album that doesn’t try to intimidate or hide within its unfamiliarity.
85
It’s an album that shows a mentality shift rather than a stylistic one, but its a shift that has taken a good artist and made her great.
80
The reward that her music offers is substantial, as Ekstasis is one of the most unusual and unprecedented indie pop albums to come along in quite awhile.
80
Although it’s possible to find minor disappointments and flaws in Ekstasis’ skilfully woven tapestry, this should not obscure Holter’s manifest talents.
80
Ekstasis sounds cleaner than its predecessor, Holter’s pop sensibilities and craft more sharply defined.
80
Ekstasis abounds with originality and depth; soars and sinks; expands and implodes; evolves and dissipates; crackles and breaks all within one cohesive sound.
80
Forget chart positions or blog hype: ‘Ekstasis’ reminds us that music can mean so much more.
80
Ekstasis revels in the ‘open-ear decisions’ of its architect, winding its way along paths both sepulchral and ascendant, often in the same song.
70
Holter has crafted an album that reflects her unique vision, though it fails to captivate the whole way through.
Her poetry shines among sparse, almost ambient instrumentals on this record, rarely manifesting itself as a true gem, despite its undeniable potential and Julia Holter's high musical intellingence that shows up throughout the album's lenght. There are some interesting and creative moments in Ekstasis, most of them in the form of obtuse and very contained, subtle soundscapes (maybe too subtle sometimes) that bring out all of the Kate Bush influences on her work. The later half sounds slightly ... read more
Another example of the glorious fusion of natural and electronic sounds we're hearing from all directions these days. This is what I like to think of as graduate student music. Mature, complex, and beautiful.
END OF YEAR LISTS
| #4 | / | Cokemachineglow |
| #8 | / | The Wire |
| #9 | / | Beats Per Minute |
| #9 | / | MOJO |
| #14 | / | FACT Magazine |
| #23 | / | Uncut |
| #26 | / | Pitchfork |
| #27 | / | musicOMH |
| #28 | / | Treble |
| #33 | / | No Ripcord |
| #36 | / | Clash |
| #36 | / | Time Out London |
| #37 | / | Pazz & Jop |
| #39 | / | Obscure Sound |
| #46 | / | PopMatters |
MISC LISTS
| #10 | / | Drowned in Sound |
| #13 | / | Stereogum (First Half) |
Track List
- Marienbad
- Our Sorrows
- In the Same Room
- Boy in the Moon
- Für Felix
- Goddess Eyes II
- Moni Mon Amie
- Four Gardens
- Goddess Eyes I
- This Is Ekstasis
Added on: February 2, 2012
