Your Review
CRITIC REVIEWS
100
Uninhibited, focused and majestically crafted, she’s simply never sounded more vital.
100
This may well be Holter’s most accessible album to date, but it’s this very approachability that renders it all the more intriguing, drawing you in with open arms. Stately and serene, it’s a wilderness that begs to be inhabited for some time, a country you’ll be reluctant to leave.
100
The result is a genuinely exceptional and entrancing album, opaque but effective, filled with beautiful, skewed songs, unconventional without ever feeling precious or affected.
90
Rather than nodding respectfully at the artists of the past, Holter now fixes her stare inward, shining a torch on what makes her tick as a human being. The result is a much more honest and more personal collection.
90
Superlatives barely do the record's beauty or brilliance justice. Something this exquisite extends beyond words on a page or, frankly, sound in the ears. Have You In My Wilderness is meant to be experienced; it's meant to be felt. Only then will you understand just how special Julia Holter's creation truly is.
90
It’s hard to imagine anyone else ever recording these songs, so indelibly does Holter leave her mark.
90
Have You In My Wilderness finds Holter narrowing her focus a little. In doing so, she gets the best of both worlds, showing off her ability to write warm and breezy pop music while maintaining the complexity, and perplexity, that made her so intriguing to begin with.
90
Have You In My Wilderness is all about walking away and looking back, the content of desire and its form, the voice in search of clarifying itself.
90
While it's tempting to say Have You in My Wilderness is her most personal music yet, it might be more accurate to say that it's her most approachable: this time, her brilliance demands a lot from her listeners, but also meets them more than halfway.
90
The songs on Have You in My Wilderness move gently with few exception at the peaceful state of many ballads.
90
Julia Holter's latest record is one of the most heavenly albums I've heard in the past five years.
88
Deciphering the message in her words relies on just how much time the listener is willing to devote to the album, but with music this brilliant, the task seems all the more alluring.
85
In a career that has been nothing short of innovative, this arguably marks a creative peak.
85
In all, Holter has made an album about blissful, hypnotic escape in many forms, and in listening to it and engaging with it, you'll be overwhelmed by these feelings too.
84
For an artist who could sometimes seem forbidding or remote, Have You In My Wilderness feels humane, and with each new release, it seems like a bit more of the personal is teased out of Holter's stately, high-concept approach.
84
Even if Have You In My Wilderness is Holter's most accessible record to date, it's riddled with enough puzzles, lyrical twists and delicate refinement to remain intriguing listen after listen.
83
While still dreamlike, Have You in My Wilderness, Holter’s fourth album, is something clearly felt — the ocean spray on the warm breeze, the sun baking exposed limbs, a hand glancing across your skin before drifting away.
83
Have You in My Wilderness’ best quality is that it won’t let you down if you get up close and sit with it for a while.
80
Holter’s songs are grand, cinematic experiences, akin to entering a nebulous, shimmering other-world.
80
Julia Holter always stood out as a left-field crafter of melody; this album establishes her as a unique lyric voice, too.
80
Album number four from this Los Angeles native is defined by its sense of cinematic grandeur and romantic narrative.
80
Her new one ... is about matters of the heart, and its stunning textures come in part from the 30-year-old singer/songwriter’s ensemble of talented L.A. musicians.
80
Have You in My Wilderness sees her positively gliding towards accessibility; she sacrifices none of her experimental credentials, but demonstrates no fear of allowing her sound to evolve either.
80
With the change in musical temperature on Have You In My Wilderness, Julia Holter’s collection is now suitable for all seasons, rather than just the cold and sheltered moments of winter.
80
With Have You in My Wilderness, Holter’s musical worlds continue to engross.
5mo
70
All the world's indeed a stage on this enchanting fifth LP, the latest in the California singer-composer's evolution from avant-electronic vocal explorer towards a lush semi-pop middle-ground that's theatrical, liturgical and shoe-gazing.
It's hard to do homework to this album. Every fifteen seconds or so, you get chills that make it impossible to do anything other than to lean back in your chair and whisper "goddamn" to yourself. Bravo Julia. This is a gem
The crystalline sunlight reflected on the sea, and the delicate shore, with an ethereal white dress that rests, on its wilderness. That's what this masterpiece reminds me of.
Take Live Recordings, Julia's first release as a tape, where she included two tracks called, "Sea Called Me Home" and "Betsy on the Roof". In Live Recordings, she sounded smal, but curious to experiment, to see the outside. A few years later, those same songs appear in her new album Have You In My Wilderness, but with some very notorious changes. Tthey sound expanded, big. As if Holter always imagined them to sound like that but never had the opportunity to sound big until ... read more
One of my favourite records of all time. Expansive, warm, layered and majestic from start to finish.
Best tracks: Sea Calls Me Home, Everytime Boots, Betsy On the Roof
Best tracks: Sea Calls Me Home, Everytime Boots, Betsy On the Roof
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END OF YEAR LISTS
| #1 | / | MOJO |
| #1 | / | Piccadilly Records |
| #1 | / | The Line of Best Fit |
| #1 | / | Uncut |
| #2 | / | Q Magazine |
| #4 | / | Loud and Quiet |
| #4 | / | The Guardian |
| #4 | / | The Wire |
| #4 | / | Under the Radar |
| #5 | / | Crack Magazine |
| #5 | / | The Needle Drop |
| #5 | / | The Skinny |
| #6 | / | Sputnikmusic |
| #7 | / | FLOOD |
| #7 | / | musicOMH |
More Lists
Track List
- Feel You
- Silhouette
- How Long?
- Lucette Stranded On the Island
- Sea Calls Me Home
- Night Song
- Everytime Boots
- Betsy On the Roof
- Vasquez
- Have You In My Wilderness
Added on: July 9, 2015
