Aviary (studio album)
by Julia Holter

I would give it 1 star more if only it was 30 minutes less. There are moments of sheer brilliance in the beginning, middle, and end, but the listener has to work for them. When it comes to music, I don't subscribe to the "no pain, no gain" philosophy. That said, Holter is truly striving for the genuine mystical experience in her sound - and she achieves it in spades. Aviary is a long, strange, and sometimes utterly mesmerizing trip. Bjork meets Atom Heart Mother.

From SaulCortes1992 03/14/2019 06:30

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From JulianR 03/08/2019 19:14

This album is clearly not digestible first listen, at least for me. Broadly, I enjoyed the sounds, the jazz-fusion + baroque pop + indietronica type stuff she has going on here. I sense I will enjoy it in more detail with further listens.

75/100 (Above Average)

Oh my goodness, this is absolutely beautiful. It's been a while since I heard such an abstract album that I love as much as this. I agree Genga009... it reminds me of Nico as well, particularly of The End.

From Genga009 01/28/2019 01:57

what the hell i've listened?! pure creativity, genuine and magical creativity. Nico's avantgarde is everywhere, polished by ambient electronic, free jazz echoes and art pop music at its best. By far, my personal favourite album from 2018.

From Fischman 01/18/2019 22:22

Very interesting album. This music could suffice as background music and be just fine; but it has a direction and a life that demands setting aside time and distraction whereby concentrated focus will reveal compositional... and emotional elements which will evade the casual listener.

It's a long one and requires real commitment, but she seems to rather deftly include enough variety within a fairly narrow sonic scope to keep it interesting, especially rhythm and mood wise, moving between sometimes dissonant and seemingly chaotic soundscapes to more standard pop-like, easy to digest sounds, and does so at the right times in the right measure.

From Kalos 12/23/2018 00:01

It is the sound of some Middle Ages of the future: it is unclear where is the past and where is the time to come; where is the joy and where the grief; what is fake, what is true... Aviary is a liquid magnus opus coming from nowhere, and that makes it much apt to 2018. Some tracks are sharply weak: luckily the peaks are so sublime that you can even forget the former them. The fact is: Aviary is Julia and Julia's tricks at their most expansive. Everything makes sense in it as everything is incoherent, I mean, it even doesn't matter how much this album is good, I take it as a flourishing stream of musical consciousness born to be imperfect, born to be tomorrow and yesterday, marvelous and awful. Somehow totally outside of her canon, something special, I love it

From SleepDealer 12/21/2018 22:08

Love 'Why Sad Song', but struggling with the rest. I'm a big fan of Julia's past work but haven't found a way to appreciate this record (yet).

From Brad1770 11/25/2018 10:08

These 15 tracks clock in at 90 min's and there is a lot to take in , the tracks need to be listened to and absorbed multiple times to appreciate their inner beauty

Lush , emotional and grand 'Aviary' rewards the listener who fully commits to its charms

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