Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness (Domino)

4/5

THE fourth long-player from enigmatic Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter, artist and composer Julia Holter is a beguilingly rich, sonically adventurous set of ballads.

“I was going for a country album in a way,” Holter says — a huge understatement.

There are flashes of country on songs like the strings-laden Silhouette but the recording shows an artist at the top of her game, successfully pushing the boundaries of musical language.

There are snippets of impenetrable jazz horns and emotive orchestral swoops, with Lucette Stranded on the Ground having an extraordinary lush lightness, while the electronica-infused Vasquez has the size and ambition of peak period Flaming Lips.

I’ve no idea what she is singing about but I’m very much looking forward to finding out through repeated listening.

Have You In My Wilderness is an immense, mature, experimental record.

To be treasured.