Los Angeles band and art collective Julie (whose name and music releases are stylized in lower case) dropped their highly-awaited debut album ‘my anti-aircraft friend’ last September via Atlantic Records. The ten tunes on the new platter included a trio of previously released singles ‘catalogue’, ‘clairbourne practice’ and ‘very little effort’. Find the album HERE.
julie exploded onto the map in 2020 with their single ‘flutter’, which has racked up millions of streams since its release. The band’s genesis, however, goes back to the late 2010s when vocalist and guitarist Keyan Pourzand and drummer Dillon Lee were joined by vocalist and bassist Alex Brady. Holding a mutual affinity towards shadowy and adventurous music, the trio played shows with local acts around Orange County in high school before relocating to Los Angeles in 2019 for design school, where they began writing the songs that would make up their impending debut album ‘my anti-aircraft friend’. In 2021, julie released their EP ‘pushing daisies’, which includes the tracks ‘skipping tiles’ and ‘april’s-bloom’ and proceeded their 2022 double single ‘pg.4 picture of three hedges’ / ‘through your window’.
‘my anti-aircraft friend’ is a bold leap, both showcasing a louder, more assured band, while also attaining a core sound the band had been chasing all along. After all those years tinkering and refining their sound, julie’s debut album is the work of people who have become steeped in alternative music’s history, learned how it works within their own musical sensibilities, and now use it to warp conventions and turn tropes on their head. Additionally, with each member of the band a multidisciplinary artist – Pourzand does sculpture work and Brady writes and paints, while Lee is also a painter as well as illustrator – the band deliberates and conceives every element of their releases, not just the music but the art and packaging, all the way down to what instruments they play onstage.
Speaking about the ‘clairbourne practice’ single at the time of its release, julie stated that “It’s two voices conflicting and crashing with each other, unable to understand each other. The way the vocals are layered on top of each other in this song is maybe the most androgynous on the album. But it’s two people saying the same thing and still not hearing each other. We definitely wanted the loud and quiet parts to be polar opposites. Sweet, then destructive, and coming back and repeating the cycle.”
In support of their latest album, julie have headed across the pond and over the next few days will be performing live at six select venues, beginning with Manchester (tomorrow) Saturday 15th March, then Dublin 16th March, Glasgow 17th March, Bristol 19th March, London 20th March and finally here in Brighton at Chalk on Friday 21st March.
Tickets for all shows can be found HERE and tickets for the julie Brighton concert at Chalk can also be purchased HERE.
Further information on Julie can be located HERE.
