Have You in My Wilderness

Have You in My Wilderness
Studio album by Julia Holter
Released September 25, 2015 (2015-09-25)
Genre
Length 46:00
Label Domino
Producer Cole M. Greif-Neill & Julia Holter
Julia Holter chronology
Loud City Song
(2013)		 Have You in My Wilderness
(2015)
Singles from Have You in My Wilderness
  1. "Feel You"
    Released: July 16, 2015
  2. "Sea Calls Me Home"
    Released: August 24, 2015

Have You in My Wilderness is the fourth studio album by American musician Julia Holter, released on September 25, 2015, on Domino Records. Co-produced by Holter and Cole M. Greif-Neill, the album was proceeded by the singles "Feel You" and "Sea Calls Me Home".

The album was released to widespread critical acclaim, placing highly on several music critics' end-of-year lists, and increased Holter's exposure significantly.[1]

Writing and composition

Unlike Holter's previous studio album, Loud City Song (2013), a concept album loosely inspired by the 1958 film, Gigi, Have You in My Wilderness is not linked by a unified narrative. Prior to the album's release, Holter noted: "It's more like Ekstasis than the last record. [...] For me it's easier to come up with this single story that ties everything together, so it was harder to do this record: to do something where I have to make up stories for every song."[2]

Regarding the writing process for her lyrics, Holter noted, "I basically just write stream of consciousness to a certain extent, I let the song kind of go where it wants to go. I don't think that's a new idea, at all, but I think that maybe I do it to an extreme."[1] Both "Sea Calls Me Home" and "Betsy on the Roof" were written years prior to recording and often performed during Holter's live performances.[3] "Lucette Stranded on the Island" was influenced by Colette's novella, Chance Acquaintances, while novelist Christopher Isherwood's recurring fictional character, Sally Bowles, was an influence in writing "How Long?".[1]

Holter cites Scott Walker's song, "Duchess", as a key influence on the album, noting: "Somehow that song captures what I was trying to do on a larger level: this warm, golden group of love songs. That was what I had in mind, [but] in the end I don't think it comes across."[3]

Recording

The recording process for Have You in My Wilderness took much longer than initially expected: "It took a really long time. We had to record many times. It was frustrating. The last one was so easy to make, in a way, and this record was this troubled child. It was so hard."[2] Holter credits producer Cole M. Greif-Neill with foregrounding her vocals on the album, noting "[He] really pushed me to let the vocals be in the forefront. He pushed me to really bring out the vocals because I tend to not do that. I usually like to hide my vocals behind the music."[2]

Holter recorded the album with the idea of expanding upon her sound: "All of my projects are very different, in my mind, but this one's working in a tradition of 60s ballads. I really wanted to have this big sound, although it doesn't mean I'm going to make music that sounds like that again."[1]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.5/10[4]
Metacritic87/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
The Daily Telegraph[7]
The Guardian[8]
The Independent[9]
Mojo[10]
NME4/5[11]
Pitchfork8.4/10[12]
Q[13]
Rolling Stone[14]
Uncut9/10[15]

Have You in My Wilderness received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album has received an average score of 87, based on 28 reviews.[5] Heather Phares of AllMusic said, "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."[6] Adam Kivel of Consequence of Sound said, "She doesn't convey specific messages or exhaustively detail narratives, but to listen to each song on Have You in My Wilderness is to inhabit a feeling in all of its pain and all of its glory."[16] Cam Lindsay of Exclaim! said, "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."[17]

Alexis Petridis of The Guardian said, "The result is a genuinely exceptional and entrancing album, opaque but effective, filled with beautiful, skewed songs, unconventional without ever feeling precious or affected."[8] Rob Mesure of musicOMH said, "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."[18] Mojo stated, "This is not a record that wants or needs to be solved, but the clues and traces it leaves behind are so compelling it's difficult to let it alone."[10] NME stated, "An intense, emotional record."[11]

Winston Cook-Wilson of Pitchfork said, "Have You in My Wilderness embraces the specific, rather than the eternal, and in her narrowed focus you can sense a palpable self-confidence and a hard-won precision."[12] Q stated, "An album that repeatedly pulls you back in to try and decipher its charms."[13] Will Hermes of Rolling Stone said, "All the world's indeed a stage on this enchanting fifth LP."[14] Max Power of Tiny Mix Tapes said, "It's the subversion of the tyranny of the pop song and the aural manifestation of desire's drift, or trudge, wherever it goes. In the background, throughout, her voice annotates, in stunning polyphony, like Horn's watery associations, the unknowable trajectory that each song always already takes."[19] Uncut stated, "With Have You in My Wilderness her songs feel brighter, more pop, yet they're also just as lush, as considered and as quietly experimental."[15] Andy Gill of The Independent said, "There's prodigious ambition here, and moments of great pleasure."[9]

Year-end rankings

Publication Rank
Drowned in Sound
The Guardian
Mojo
Pitchfork
Q
Stereogum
Tiny Mix Tapes
Uncut

Track listing

All tracks written by Julia Holter. 

No. Title Length
1. "Feel You"   4:08
2. "Silhouette"   3:53
3. "How Long?"   3:58
4. "Lucette Stranded on the Island"   6:46
5. "Sea Calls Me Home"   3:07
6. "Night Song"   4:12
7. "Everytime Boots"   3:28
8. "Betsy on the Roof"   6:15
9. "Vasquez"   6:37
10. "Have You in My Wilderness"   3:36
Total length:
 46:00

Personnel

Musicians
  • Corey Fogel – percussion
  • Kenny Gilmore – percussion
  • Devin Hoff – bass
  • Julia Holter – vocals, keyboards
  • Danny Meyer – saxophone, clarinet
  • Chris Speed – saxophone
  • Andrew Tholl – violin
  • Christopher Votek – cello
Production and design
  • Julia Holter – production
  • Cole MGN – production, engineering, mixing
  • David Ives – mastering
  • Darrell Thorp – engineering
  • Bill Mims – assistant engineering
  • Jake Viator – assistant engineering
  • Rick Bahto – photography
  • Matthew Cooper – design

Charts

Chart (2015) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[29] 56
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[30] 107
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[31] 36
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32] 100
Irish Albums (IRMA)[33] 43
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[34] 25
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[35] 95
UK Albums (OCC)[36] 29
US Top Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[37] 3
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[38] 40

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label Ref.
United States September 25, 2015 Digital download Domino [39]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bromwich, Kathryn (14 February 2016). "Julia Holter: 'I tend to feel like everything I'm doing is crazy'". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Rachel, T. Cole (18 August 2015). "Q&A: Julia Holter On Her New Album Have You In My Wilderness". Stereogum. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 Saxelby, Ruth (25 September 2015). "Julia Holter On Why All Love Songs Are Delusional". The Fader. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  4. ↑ "Have You In My Wilderness by Julia Holter reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Reviews for Have You in My Wilderness by Julia Holter". Metacritic. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Phares, Heather. "Have You in My Wilderness – Julia Holter". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  7. ↑ Brown, Helen (September 26, 2015). "Julia Holter, Have you in my Wilderness, review: 'she knows how to shake'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Petridis, Alexis (September 24, 2015). "Julia Holter, Have You in My Wilderness – album review". The Guardian. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  9. 1 2 Gill, Andy (September 18, 2015). "Julia Holter, Have You in My Wilderness – album review". The Independent. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Julia Holter: Have You in My Wilderness". Mojo (263): 86. October 2015.
  11. 1 2 "4 Albums That May Have Passed You By This Week". NME. September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Cook-Wilson, Winston (September 18, 2015). "Julia Holter: Have You in My Wilderness". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  13. 1 2 "Julia Holter: Have You in My Wilderness". Q (352): 111. November 2015.
  14. 1 2 Hermes, Will (September 25, 2015). "Have You in My Wilderness". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  15. 1 2 "Julia Holter: Have You in My Wilderness". Uncut (221): 77. October 2015.
  16. ↑ Adam Kivel (September 20, 2015). "Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  17. ↑ Cam Lindsay (September 23, 2015). "Julia Holter Have You In My Wilderness". Exclaim!. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  18. ↑ Rob Mesure (September 23, 2015). "Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness". musicOMH. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  19. ↑ Max Power. "Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Favourite Albums of the Year 2015". December 26, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  21. ↑ "The best albums of 2015". December 2, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Top 50 Albums of 2015". December 26, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  23. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Pitchfork. December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Readers' Poll Results 2015". Pitchfork. January 5, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Top 50 Albums of 2015". December 26, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  26. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums Of 2015". Stereogum. 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  27. ↑ "Favourite 50 Music Releases". December 26, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Top 75 Albums of 2015". December 26, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  29. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  31. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  32. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  33. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 40, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  34. ↑ "Portuguesecharts.com – Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  35. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  36. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  37. ↑ "Julia Holter – Chart history" Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums for Julia Holter. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  38. ↑ "Julia Holter – Chart history" Billboard Top Rock Albums for Julia Holter. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  39. ↑ "Have You In My Wilderness: Julia Holter: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
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