Julia Holter: Have You in My Wilderness review – an ambitious triumph

Saying that LA-based Julia Holter’s fourth album is her most accessible to date is hardly a bold assertion, given that previous efforts have been based on works by those overused pop touchstones Euripides and Colette. And yet Have You in My Wilderness is a fascinating, immersive listen. As with her past work,most notably 2013’s Loud City Song, Holter’s music is dense with ideas, but this time her vocals are in sharper focus and her experimental urges have been reined in a little. This approach is best realised on the stunning Lucette Stranded on the Island, which simultaneously evokes wonder and disorientation, while the instrumentation seems to echo the rhythms of breaking waves; Night Song, meanwhile, is more stark, but no less emotionally powerful for it. An ambitious triumph.