Julia Holter - Loud City Song
Critic Score
Based on 32 reviews
2013 Ratings: #29 / 1115
Year End Rank: #19
User Score
Based on 889 ratings
2013 Rank: #22
Liked by 122 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

90
Exclaim!

Most vividly, Loud City Song evokes the easy, tingling drift of early Robert Wyatt.

90
Tiny Mix Tapes

Like any modernist piece of work, Loud City Song consciously walks through paths that have been beaten before, but unravels threads out into new corners and ushers you in; records of this complexity and depth rarely feel so inviting.

90
musicOMH

It’s certainly Holter’s most accomplished and imaginative album

90
PopMatters

It’s an impressive record to listen to—the compositions are even more beautiful than Ekstasis, even though they’re often more fragmented—but it’s also a frightening depiction of what it feels like to have a whole population making you up in its head.

90
AllMusic

Loud City Song is Holter's most polished work to date, and another example of how she upholds and redefines what it means to be an avant-garde singer/songwriter.

90
NME

Excitingly, ‘Loud City Song’ has an immediate pop whirl that should make Holter’s genius apparent to all, without sacrificing the California Institute Of The Arts graduate’s knack for intricacy.

90
Clash

Although it takes more than a couple of listens for ‘Loud City Song’ to feel like a cohesive album, the reward once you do is well worth the outlay.

90
Sputnikmusic

The power of Loud City Song, then, lies not in the concepts upon which it deliberates, nor even the means through which it deliberates upon them, but rather how it translates these heady notions of the individual vs. the social, the Idea of the city, etc. into warm and loving compositions that first and foremost feel real. 

90
The Fly

With ‘Loud City Song’, Julia Holter marks the scene’s zenith, continuing her journey from obscurity, through marginality and onwards into accessibility. 

90
The Sydney Morning Herald
In the bookends World and City Appearing, she wanders through late-night streets, but sister pieces Maxim's I and Maxim's II employ cacophonous collage to depict LA at its most chaotic.
90
The 405

Whilst it remains unpredictable throughout, Loud City Song is never anything less than completely thrilling.

90
FACT Magazine

Don’t let the singular beauty of Loud City Song fool you. Holter may write stunning pop-tinged songs, but she’s an experimental artist through and through.

88
Beats Per Minute

Loud City Song is a true achievement from Julia Holter. Nary is there a hook on the album, but the richness and vividness that she brings to the songs musically and lyrically will hook you more effectively anyway.

86
Pitchfork

Loud City Song is one of those records so full of un-jaded wonder and attuned to the secret music of ordinary things that the world looks a little bit different while it's playing. 

85
The Line of Best Fit

It’s the explorations of sound and bold yet gentle orchestrations that makes Loud City Song a perfect example of Holter honing in on her talents by evoking mystery but retaining enough openness to keep her sound in constant flux.

80
Uncut
Like any new city, this album may take some getting used to--there's beauty everywhere, but the streets are far from a neat grid. But as you walk them, Holter's genius as a sonic town planner reveals itself.
80
The Needle Drop

On her latest album, Loud City Song, CA singer-songwriter Julia Holter maintains her dreamy aesthetic while bringing some beautifully arranged horns and strings.

80
Mojo
Still ethereal and episodic, it's less sequestered, more outgoing, with an influx of strings and brass bringing warmth to concoctions of stunning invention and variety.
80
Resident Advisor

Loud City Song is her most broadly scoped and epic album to date.

80
Spectrum Culture

As a cohesive whole, Loud City Song is a statement that an artist can be being avant-garde without being off-putting. It is evocative, mysterious and captivating, and proof that there is still room for innovation from the ground-up in modern music.

80
Record Collector

Loud City Song is a massive leap forward for Holter.

80
Q Magazine
Her songs are challenging, expansive and cinematic, turning minimalist melodies on their heads and redefining the limits of pop.
80
The Irish Times
These bewitching songs, both quiet and loud, reverberate more deeply with every listen.
80
The Guardian
Barbara Lewis's soul classic Hello Stranger gets a chillout makeover, which doesn't quite work; but any faults are obliterated by the album's closer, City Appearing.
80
DIY

This is a clever, sophisticated album that still oozes warmth and affection. Superficiality and loneliness have never sounded so tender and dazzling.

80
Under the Radar

This is music that takes a while to comprehend, designed for longevity over quick appeal. For those of you wistful for this approach, look no further.

80
Consequence of Sound

Loud City Song is a sightseeing trip with a person fully able to portray the objective beauty of the sights, as well as her own take on them.

80
SPIN

If Holter's stated themes sound like bullet points on a Media Studies 101 syllabus, fear not: There's nothing prosaic about this entrancing, chamber-pop masterpiece.

80
Drowned in Sound

It’s a jaw-dropping accomplishment, one of those records that’s almost pointless to listen to as a series of individual songs – tracks are mini symphonies in themselves, and to break Loud City Song down into tracks would be missing the point.

70
FasterLouder
No matter how abstract the arrangements Holter finds a way to make them inclusive rather than isolating.
30
Loud and Quiet
For the most part this feels a little bit like being dragged along to witness a friend’s first attempt at experimental theatre: mostly painful, and thoroughly tedious.
knewnie
85

i like it when she goes wah wah

hellodecatur
97

Not sure if I could ever decide on a favorite Julia Holter album, but this one definitely holds a special place for being my proper introduction to her. I remember being totally blown away by "World" and its use of phrasing and empty space to convey the Gigi-adjacent atmosphere this record is going for. Seriously - this song makes me feel like I'm sitting on a fire escape in Los Angeles at night watching cars quietly below. For longtime fans of Holter, hearing her finally close up ... read more

Host
82

she's already lying to me in the title (I don't mind)

KINGKUNTA
70

I mean, it's good, but it does nothing special for me

T_Alamos
90

Edit: This feels like what the past thought the music of the future would sound like.

A special piece of music, that in a very specific way, conveys the experience of being Julia Holter.

100

A masterpiece. As cinematic as an album can possibly get. It gives you just enough space to settle into the sound before ripping through will some of the highest highs. The strings - just wow. Wow from start to finish. One of the best listens I’ve ever had.

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Added on: May 22, 2013