Video: Julia Holter, ‘I Shall Love 2’

Daiana Feuer on September 27th, 2018

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Inspired by a line in a short story by Etel Adnan, “I found myself in an aviary full of shrieking birds,” Julia Holter describes her new album, “Aviary,” as “the cacophony of the mind in a melting world.” The notion is taken to an uplifting perspective, rather than being consumed by noise and fire. “Amidst all the internal and external babble we experience daily, it’s hard to find one’s foundation,” says Holter. “I think this album is reflecting that feeling of cacophony and how one responds to it as a person – how one behaves, how one looks for love, for solace. Maybe it’s a matter of listening to and gathering the seeming madness, of forming something out of it and envisioning a future.”

For its first single, Holter has shared “I Shall Love 2,” an incantation revolving around the words “I am in love / There is nothing else” that builds into the kind of dense, layered mosaic of little shreds that Holter assembles like she’s weaving a sonic tapestry using the tiniest needle and a mountain of string. The Dicky Bahto-directed video finds her falling repeatedly into an abyss. The kind of love she’s face-planting into is not necessarily the romantic kind but something much bigger and encompassing. “In a lot of the songs, when I mention love, it’s about a seeking for compassion and humility in a world where it feels like empathy is always being tested.”

Executive produced by Cole MGN and produced by Holter and Kenny Gilmore, “Aviary” features contributions from Corey Fogel (percussion), Devin Hoff (bass), Dina Maccabee (violin, viola, vocals), Sarah Belle Reid (trumpet), Andrew Tholl (violin), and Tashi Wada (synth, bagpipes). It comes out October 26 on Domino Recording Co.

||| Watch: “I Shall Love 2”