Art / Chamber Pop darling Julia Holter has just released another single, titled “Words I Heard” from her upcoming sixth record Aviary. The atmospheric six and a half minute track follows up the lead single “I Shall Love 2,” further exciting fans for another promising new album from the beloved artist.
Along with single, Holter unveiled a music video as accompaniment. The clip was directed by Dicky Bahto, a frequent collaborator of Holter, who also made the video for “I Shall Love 2.” Bahto said that the video for “Words I Heard” takes influence from Lebanese-American writer Etel Adnan, whom Holter also uses as inspiration and a starting point for Aviary.
The quote from Adnan, in “Journey to Mount Tamalpais,” reads: “Tall trees of so many kinds, from redwoods to manzanitas, oaks, madrones, maples and elms, plants and bushes, flowers and seeds, acorns and grass, they all are the last chance of the earth and they all make a thick and permanent coat, a cover, a bath of perfume, a touch of healing, a royal procession, music and fanfare, they rise and talk to Tamalpais, and sing lullabies and songs of love.”
“When Julia told me that the title of her album was inspired by Etel Adnan,” said Bahto himself about the video, “one of my favorite writers, I felt that I had to make a film for one of the songs on Mount Tamalpais, a recurring subject in both Adnan’s visual art and her writing. I filmed on a few hikes down the Dipsea trail, and in the last section of the song combine this with footage made during the studio sessions of the album.”
Holter herself describes Aviary as a journey through “the cacophony of the mind in a melting world,” and “Words I Heard” definitely seems to fit that purpose. “I think this album is reflecting that feeling of cacophony and how one responds to it as a person – how one behaves, how one looks for love, for solace. Maybe it’s a matter of listening to and gathering the seeming madness, of forming something out of it and envisioning a future.”
Check out the new video below.