Stream: Julia Holter, ‘Betsy On The Roof’

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Julia Holter (Photo by by Tonje Thilisen)
Julia Holter (Photo by by Tonje Thilisen)

What a strange, perplexing song. The latest single from Julia Holter’s new album, “Have You In My Wilderness,” is weird and disconcerting in a brilliant way. “Betsy On The Roof” begins with voice and piano and ominous, almost subliminal stirrings rumbling softly underneath. As the 6-minute-long piece of music unfolds, Holter’s whispers become concerned exclamations over Betsy’s well-being and a general sense of discomfort swells between the lines, until rupturing the thing wide open. This is crazy lady locked in the castle tower music. Is Betsy going to jump? Is Julia going to catch her? Who is the unhinged one, the storyteller or this mysterious character? For certain, Holter is some kind of genius, and, on her fourth album in as many years, keeps churning out music that challenges and expands notions of what pop music can be. The new album, out Sept. 24 via Domino, belongs on the shelf next to your favorite Kate Bush record.

||| Stream: “Betsy On The Roof”

||| Also: Stream the full album via NPR.

||| Watch: The video for “Sea Calls Me Home”

||| Live: Julia Holter opens for Beirut on Oct. 7 and 8 at Hollywood Palladium.

||| Previously: “Feel You”