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" 'Have You in My Wilderness,' the title track, is about the idea of possessing a person, or saying, 'You're mine; you're in my world now.' I was drawn to that as an idea less from my own experience than from listening to music written by men that was kind of male gaze-y. "

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" The Beatles, even Radiohead, all of my favorite stuff I'd play on the piano. But it was all very secret - for me, for fun. I wasn't going to record myself playing those songs, and it never occurred to me to write a song of my own. "

Julia Holter

Song

Myself

Fun

" 'Betsy' is one of my favorites because it is the one to which I've imposed the least clear narrative. To me, it's so much more about the feeling - desperation - than any kind of story at all. There's very little imagery or character development; it's just about a deep and desperate search for something. "

Julia Holter

Character

" It's nice to work with people who know how to mic drums right and how to record properly. But there's something to be said for doing it yourself. "

" I don't use the harpsichord because it evokes a past time period: I use it because I like the sound. "

" I try to ignore people's opinions about my music - you don't want to hold yourself back because of that stuff. "

" I don't write thinking directly about what I'm feeling, usually. I just let myself write whatever comes out without it necessarily being directly a translation of what I'm aware that I'm feeling, you know? "

" I listen to the timbre of the music, and I fit my voice to blend with that timbre. "

" I played cello on my early recordings, but that doesn't mean I'm a cellist, you know? "

" I grew up watching 'Gigi.' My grandmother had it, and I watched it there. "

Julia Holter

Grandmother

Watched

" I don't thrive in a school or academic environment, I found out. I thrive better in the world outside the small academy because I find it hard to explain what I'm doing. "

" I love '80s beats; everyone does. "

" I started writing music as a composer in school, in the classical tradition. "

" I started playing piano when I was eight, and I went on to study piano in school, so I have a background in classical piano and studied composition in school. Writing music came later. "

" I take music very seriously, but it's important to me that my music is - I don't know if 'intuitive' is the word, but there's a really important element of something kind of mysterious. It's not academic or esoteric. "

Julia Holter

Music

Know

" I don't like to talk too much about my music; I like people to just experience it and not worry what I have to say. "

" I do have a big problem with the idea of music as a form of communication unless it's political - and that's where it's tricky because a lot of music is political, even if it's not overtly so. But my music isn't that; it's about a feeling. "

" I usually like to hide my vocals behind the music. I don't like to hide them consciously, but I have a tendency to prefer the vocal at the same level as everything else and put lots of reverb on it. "

Julia Holter

Behind

Everything

" I started classical piano when I was eight, but I wasn't a virtuoso. I just really liked it. "

" I really love working with Ramona from Nite Jewel. We've kind of grown up together. "

Julia Holter

Together

Working

" Amidst all the internal and external babble we experience daily, it's hard to find one's foundation. "

" There's a lot psychologically going on in boxing... I think I relate to some of it. I have a respect for it. It's like performing, but it's also this crazy, self-destructive thing. "

" I just always make honest music. I just always kinda do what I wanna do. "

" A lot of my personal life feels very separate from my music. "

" I'm happy that I worked alone on 'Tragedy,' but it's obvious that I was trying to create something much bigger than I could do on my own. "

" When you make music on your own for so long, you get used to just doing whatever you want. "

" One of the struggles that I have with classical music is the way one thinks about a recapitulation. There's always this idea of themes, and I have trouble with that. "

" One thing I've learned is I really want to work with people. "

" The meaning of the words in my songs are very important to me. But what's most important to me is that the music works. "

Julia Holter

Words

Important

" I basically just write stream of consciousness to a certain extent. I let the song kind of go where it wants to go. "

Julia Holter

Song

Kind

" I've never felt at home anywhere. "