Julia Holter – Cecil Sharp House, London 20/08/13

Julia Holter’s third album Loud City Song is inspired by her home town of LA, commenting on the urban intensity and societies obsession with celebrity. Los Angeles is a far cry away from the homely school hall feel of Cecil Sharp House, but its high ceilings and wooden-panelled walls provide a homely, intimate setting for the last night of her world tour.

The room falls silent as she opens with ethereal number ‘World’, the first track from said new album, creating a melancholy filmic atmosphere she stands alone on keys before the band join her for the driving plucked cello for the more up tempo ‘In the Green Wild’.

All of her songs are beautifully structured, and her classical background is immediately apparent; using all the instruments to tell the story, rather than just relying on the lyrics. Reflecting her approach at large the set is also well structured – taking the audience on a journey, dispersing the more introverted, dreamy tracks amongst the more dynamic so that the nuances of each are appreciated fully. Ranging through a whole spectrum of dynamic and rhythms, from burdened pauses to controlled chaos and everything in between the band expertly evoke its every subtlety.

Although on record the technical nature of the music may take longer to access for some, the theatrical style translates very well in this live setting; the audience are spellbound, remaining practically silent for the whole 90 minute set (with the exception of enthused applause between songs.

Rare is it to see such a wide range of influences from classical, jazz, rock, musical theatre and folk sit beside each other so well. One track sees Hammond sounding keys and jazz drums being reminiscent of the likes of Herbie Hancock and the next having clear roots in traditional folk. Despite this, Holter remains unpretentious and genuine, there is always an essence of pop which stops the swirling strings, discordant intervals and chromatic melodies from being unpleasantly avante-garde. Announcing the release of her album this week, she revealed that “I’ve almost finished the next one too, maybe I’ll release it under a different name to trick you guys.”

A particularly beautiful and talented performance, the new album promises to live up to the previous two.

Julia Holter next plays Village Underground on 11 November.