Julia Holter

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on December 18, 1984, and raised in Los Angeles, musician and composer Julia Holter studied composition at the University of Michigan before attending the California Institute of the Arts, where she worked with experimental composer Michael Pisaro. After contributing to recordings by fellow musicians and performing with psychedelic folk singer Linda Perhacs, Julia Holter released her debut album Tragedy in 2011, followed by Ekstasis in 2012. Both were largely home-recorded solo projects, but third album Loud City Song (2013) introduced a larger ensemble and marked the beginning of her relationship with Domino Recording Company. Her fourth album, Have You in My Wilderness, followed in 2015, reaching number 3 on the US Heatseekers chart and bringing a more accessible chamber-pop dimension to her experimental songwriting. In 2016, she collaborated with Jean-Michel Jarre on "These Creatures" for Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise, before exploring denser, more expansive arrangements on Aviary in 2018. Julia Holter subsequently composed the score for the 2020 film Never Rarely Sometimes Always and in 2023 provided vocals for composer Alex Temple's Behind the Wallpaper, performed with Chicago's Spektral Quartet. Returning to Domino, she released her sixth studio album, Something in the Room She Moves, in 2024. Co-produced with Kenny Gilmore, the record explored transformation, physicality and motherhood through art pop, improvisation and jazz-inflected arrangements, and was supported by North American and international touring. That year, Julia Holter also contributed vocals and keyboards throughout Tashi Wada's What Is Not Strange? and released the standalone track "The Laugh Is in the Eyes." In 2025, Domino marked the tenth anniversary of Have You in My Wilderness with a new edition, while Julia Holter contributed a live version of "Turn the Light On" to Leaving Records' Los Angeles wildfire benefit compilation Staying. In 2026, she reworked Penelope Trappes' "Thou Art Mortal" before announcing Materia, a seven-track companion to Something in the Room She Moves. Featuring new compositions, improvisations and alternate approaches to the earlier album's "Materia", the record was preceded by "Fantasy," "My Lost One" and "Materia 2" and was released through Domino on August 21, 2026.