Julia Holter - Materia (Black Vinyl)

Julia Holter – Materia is a seven-track companion album to 2024’s Something in the Room She Moves, returning to ideas that continued to develop after that record was complete. The title song had existed in several forms since the period following Holter’s tours for Aviary, evolving through solo performances for voice and piano before becoming part of a wider collection concerned with transformation, memory and the unstable boundaries of a finished song.

The album contains two distinct new versions of “Materia”. “Materia 2” is built from drum machines, fretless bass and clarinet, with Holter’s voice moving through the arrangement alongside Jessika Kenney. “Materia 3” takes a different route, slowing the version heard on Something in the Room She Moves in a playful homage to the hidden bonus tracks of the CD era. The altered speed draws attention to harmonies and emotional details that can pass quickly in the original recording.

Elsewhere, Holter treats the studio as a space for improvisation and discovery. One piece grows from a self-built ensemble of drum machines and synthesiser lines; another manipulates her voice until individual words seem to contain entire new arrangements. “My Twin” originates in a demo connected to the earlier album, while “The Laugh Is in the Eyes”, “My Lost One”, “Fantasy” and “Clepsydra” each occupy their own distinct musical environment.

Although concise, Materia demonstrates the fluidity that has defined Holter’s work across art-pop, experimental composition, electronic music and improvisation. The seven scenes differ in texture and method but gradually form a coherent whole, making the record feel less like a collection of leftovers than a deliberately open companion piece. This black-vinyl edition on Domino Records includes a lyric insert and digital download card. It is an absorbing release for listeners drawn to Julia Holter’s most exploratory work and to albums that reveal new shapes with each play.