Have You in My Wilderness

Have You in My Wilderness is the fourth studio album by American musician Julia Holter, released on September 25, 2015, by Domino Recording Company. Co-produced by Holter and Cole M.G.N., the album was preceded by the singles "Feel You" and "Sea Calls Me Home".

Have You in My Wilderness
Studio album by
Julia Holter
ReleasedSeptember 25, 2015 (2015-09-25)
Genre
Length46:00
LabelDomino
Producer
Julia Holter chronology
Loud City Song
(2013)		 Have You in My Wilderness
(2015)		 In the Same Room
(2017)
Singles from Have You in My Wilderness
  1. "Feel You"
    Released: July 16, 2015
  2. "Sea Calls Me Home"
    Released: August 24, 2015

The album was released to widespread critical acclaim, placing highly on several music critics' end-of-year lists, and increased Holter's exposure significantly.

Writing and composition

Unlike Holter's previous studio album, Loud City Song (2013), a concept album loosely inspired by the 1958 film, Gigi, Have You in My Wilderness is not linked by a unified narrative. Prior to the album's release, Holter noted: "It's more like Ekstasis than the last record. [...] For me it's easier to come up with this single story that ties everything together, so it was harder to do this record: to do something where I have to make up stories for every song."[1]

Regarding the writing process for her lyrics, Holter noted, "I basically just write stream of consciousness to a certain extent, I let the song kind of go where it wants to go. I don't think that's a new idea, at all, but I think that maybe I do it to an extreme."[2] Both "Sea Calls Me Home" and "Betsy on the Roof" were written years prior to recording and often performed during Holter's live performances.[3] "Lucette Stranded on the Island" was influenced by Colette's novella, Chance Acquaintances, while novelist Christopher Isherwood's recurring fictional character, Sally Bowles, was an influence in writing "How Long?".[2]

Holter cites Scott Walker's song, "Duchess", as a key influence on the album, noting: "Somehow that song captures what I was trying to do on a larger level: this warm, golden group of love songs. That was what I had in mind, [but] in the end I don't think it comes across."[3]

Recording

The recording process for Have You in My Wilderness took much longer than initially expected: "It took a really long time. We had to record many times. It was frustrating. The last one was so easy to make, in a way, and this record was this troubled child. It was so hard."[1] Holter credits producer Cole M.G.N. with foregrounding her vocals on the album, noting "[He] really pushed me to let the vocals be in the forefront. He pushed me to really bring out the vocals because I tend to not do that. I usually like to hide my vocals behind the music."[1]

Holter recorded the album with the idea of expanding upon her sound: "All of my projects are very different, in my mind, but this one's working in a tradition of 60s ballads. I really wanted to have this big sound, although it doesn't mean I'm going to make music that sounds like that again."[2]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Album of the Year88/100[4]
AnyDecentMusic?8.5/10[5]
Metacritic87/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
The Daily Telegraph[8]
The Guardian[9]
The Independent[10]
Mojo[11]
NME4/5[12]
Pitchfork8.4/10[13]
Q[14]
Rolling Stone[15]
Uncut9/10[16]

Have You in My Wilderness was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, the album has received an average score of 87, based on 28 reviews.[6] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.5 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[5] Album of the Year assessed the critical consensus as 88 out of 100, based on 30 reviews.[4]

Heather Phares of AllMusic said, "While it's tempting to say Have You in My Wilderness is her most personal music yet, it might be more accurate to say that it's her most approachable: this time, her brilliance demands a lot from her listeners, but also meets them more than halfway."[7] Adam Kivel of Consequence of Sound said, "She doesn't convey specific messages or exhaustively detail narratives, but to listen to each song on Have You in My Wilderness is to inhabit a feeling in all of its pain and all of its glory."[17] Cam Lindsay of Exclaim! said, "Have You in My Wilderness finds Holter narrowing her focus a little. In doing so, she gets the best of both worlds, showing off her ability to write warm and breezy pop music while maintaining the complexity, and perplexity, that made her so intriguing to begin with."[18] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian said, "The result is a genuinely exceptional and entrancing album, opaque but effective, filled with beautiful, skewed songs, unconventional without ever feeling precious or affected."[9] Rob Mesure of musicOMH said, "This may well be Holter's most accessible album to date, but it's this very approachability that renders it all the more intriguing, drawing you in with open arms. Stately and serene, it's a wilderness that begs to be inhabited for some time, a country you'll be reluctant to leave."[19] Mojo stated, "This is not a record that wants or needs to be solved, but the clues and traces it leaves behind are so compelling it's difficult to let it alone."[11] NME stated, "An intense, emotional record."[12]

Winston Cook-Wilson of Pitchfork said, "Have You in My Wilderness embraces the specific, rather than the eternal, and in her narrowed focus you can sense a palpable self-confidence and a hard-won precision."[13] Q stated, "An album that repeatedly pulls you back in to try and decipher its charms."[14] Will Hermes of Rolling Stone said, "All the world's indeed a stage on this enchanting fifth LP."[15] Uncut stated, "With Have You in My Wilderness her songs feel brighter, more pop, yet they're also just as lush, as considered and as quietly experimental."[16] Andy Gill of The Independent said, "There's prodigious ambition here, and moments of great pleasure."[10]

Accolades
Year-end lists
Publication Rank Ref.
Drowned in Sound
55
[20]
The Guardian
4
[21]
Mojo
1
[22]
Pitchfork
18
[23]
13
[24]
Q
2
[25]
Stereogum
50
[26]
Uncut
1
[27]
The Wire
4
[28]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Julia Holter.

Have You in My Wilderness track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Feel You"4:08
2."Silhouette"3:53
3."How Long?"3:58
4."Lucette Stranded on the Island"6:46
5."Sea Calls Me Home"3:07
6."Night Song"4:12
7."Everytime Boots"3:28
8."Betsy on the Roof"6:15
9."Vasquez"6:37
10."Have You in My Wilderness"3:36
Total length:46:00

Personnel

Charts
Chart performance for Have You in My Wilderness
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[29] 56
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[30] 107
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[31] 36
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[32] 100
Irish Albums (IRMA)[33] 43
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[34] 25
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[35] 95
UK Albums (OCC)[36] 29
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[37] 3
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[38] 40

Release history
Release formats for Have You in My Wilderness
Region Date Label Format(s) Ref.
Various September 25, 2015 Domino
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References
  1. Rachel, T. Cole (August 18, 2015). "Q&A: Julia Holter on Her New Album Have You in My Wilderness". Stereogum. Archived from the original on November 6, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  2. Bromwich, Kathryn (February 14, 2016). "Julia Holter: 'I tend to feel like everything I'm doing is crazy'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 8, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  3. Saxelby, Ruth (September 25, 2015). "Julia Holter on Why All Love Songs Are Delusional". The Fader. Archived from the original on February 1, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
  4. "Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness – Reviews". Album of the Year. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  5. "Have You In My Wilderness by Julia Holter reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Archived from the original on May 16, 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  6. "Reviews for Have You in My Wilderness by Julia Holter". Metacritic. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  7. Phares, Heather. "Have You in My Wilderness – Julia Holter". AllMusic. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  8. Brown, Helen (September 26, 2015). "Julia Holter, Have you in my Wilderness, review: 'she knows how to shake'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on February 3, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  9. Petridis, Alexis (September 24, 2015). "Julia Holter, Have You in My Wilderness – album review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  10. Gill, Andy (September 18, 2015). "Julia Holter, Have You in My Wilderness – album review". The Independent. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  11. "Julia Holter: Have You in My Wilderness". Mojo (263): 86. October 2015.
  12. "4 Albums That May Have Passed You By This Week". NME. September 25, 2015. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  13. Cook-Wilson, Winston (September 18, 2015). "Julia Holter: Have You in My Wilderness". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  14. "Julia Holter: Have You in My Wilderness". Q (352): 111. November 2015.
  15. Hermes, Will (September 25, 2015). "Have You in My Wilderness". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  16. Dale, Jon (October 2015). "Julia Holter: Have You in My Wilderness". Uncut (221): 77.
  17. Adam Kivel (September 20, 2015). "Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on September 1, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  18. Cam Lindsay (September 23, 2015). "Julia Holter Have You in My Wilderness". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  19. Rob Mesure (September 23, 2015). "Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness". musicOMH. Archived from the original on September 3, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  20. "Favourite Albums of the Year 2015". December 26, 2015. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  21. "The best albums of 2015". December 2, 2015. Archived from the original on December 13, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  22. "Top 50 Albums of 2015". December 26, 2015. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  23. "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Pitchfork. December 16, 2015. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  24. "Readers' Poll Results 2015". Pitchfork. January 5, 2016. Archived from the original on March 1, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  25. "Top 50 Albums of 2015". December 26, 2015. Archived from the original on December 28, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  26. "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Stereogum. December 1, 2015. Archived from the original on December 9, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  27. "Top 75 Albums of 2015". December 26, 2015. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  28. "2015 Rewind: Releases of the Year 1–50". The Wire. No. 383. London. January 2016. p. 32 – via Exact Editions. (subscription required)
  29. "Ultratop.be – Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  30. "Ultratop.be – Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  31. "Dutchcharts.nl – Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  32. "Offiziellecharts.de – Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  33. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 40, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  34. "Portuguesecharts.com – Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  35. "Spanishcharts.com – Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  36. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  37. "Julia Holter Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  38. "Julia Holter Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  39. "HOLTER, JULIA – Have You in My Wilderness". Amazon.com. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
    – "Have You in My Wilderness by Julia Holter on Amazon Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
    – "HOLTER, JULIA – Have You in My Wilderness". Amazon.com. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
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