One of the awaited debut projects within the newer generation of the alternative rock scene, julie delivers quite the flight. Despite the numbness soaking around ‘my anti-aircraft friend’, the album still enthralls with its subtle dynamics and inflections that keep the melodies bursting with a striking edge.
It’s hard not to notice the new wave of acts that are cultivating amidst the rising breadth of the adjacent alternative rock subgenres such as shoegaze and grunge, thriving along the slacker rock scene that has always continued to float along the waves even after its peak momentum in the 90s. In the 2020s, acts like Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, Feeble Little Horse, and bar italia are paving the wave of nestling the alternative rock foundations into other aspects, allowing the younger generation to follow along the lively thrill within the alternative rock scene in this current time. Alongside those acts, julie is also one that should take a closer look as they finally managed to pull together their debut album, ‘my anti-aircraft friend’.
Back when they only had their first two EPs, it’s easy to hear their influences within shoegaze and noise rock, as the overall mixing makes the textures sound more ragged amidst the melodies and vocals that always keep their expressions and grooves in check. Within ‘my anti-aircraft friend’, the overall soundscape might retain elements from those past EPs - specifically the melodies that carry a rumbling charge to the drum patterns and the guitar passages - but, the much-refined production on display does mean that the sonic flavor has changed up quite a bit, especially with how the mixing isn’t smothered with feedback all the way through while clearing up the vocals and drums as well as ramping up the muscular texture on the guitars, resulting in the project carrying more grunge and slacker rock tendencies this time around. Amidst that step up in production that allows the dynamic swells within the melodies to punch through, the vocals from Keyan Zand and Alex Brady manage to provide subtle deliveries in their gliding inflections, allowing their numbed-out cadence in their vocals to carry a more distinct presence within these roaring sonic feedbacks, which paired with the stickier hooks, leads to a strong set of tracks. The revving grooves of ‘catalogue’ that paired with Keyan’s oddly mellifluous delivery collectively adds to the pummeling guitar and drum melodies, the dynamic swells of volume that parses through ‘tenebrist’ with the explosive guitar passages and its noisy feedbacks, the rapid rhythms slowing down to an earthshattering melodic passage on ‘very little effort’ with Keyan and Alex’s striking vocals adding even more to the shambling edges, the reflective acoustics of ‘knob’ where Alex’s solemn vocals lead the strums into the distorted guitar spikes, the claustrophobic dourness of ‘thread, stitch’ where the layered vocals from the two vocalists delivered the exhausted tone pretty well as the wandering guitars and stable percussion lines erupt within its mid-tempo rhythm, and ‘feminine adornments’ showcases Keyan’s vocals in their most dynamic state - carrying an intensity that amplifies the crumbling distortion and the eerie effects.
There is something that’s worth looking into the writing, painting a picture where the brief lyrical passages sketch together an arc where two characters are in a fragile connection or relationship, especially as they have their own baggage that they’re carrying. Most specifically an exhaustion that numbs their emotions altogether amidst details of loneliness, doubt, disaffection, and confusion that all-in-all compounds into how these two characters tend to deflect from relying on one another. Yet, given how the details open up the fact that they know about each other more than themselves and that they look up to each other to the point of trying to become the other, they need to stick together, especially as they know that they are both broken and tired to a tee. An observation that does come rather true at the very end, where perhaps within the simple action of following the other person around, there might be some mending that can happen soon enough.
There’s indeed a double-edged sword within the overall presentation lying through the vocals, the melodies, and the writing. Wherein, as much as there are subtleties that do manage to carry quality within these cuts, the numbing deflection smeared through the record paired with how the brief lyrical phrases in the lyricism that don’t exactly provide an assured balm to the conflict can certainly wear down the staying power and the resonance within the record. Besides how this numbness can affect the momentum of the record, it doesn’t help almost half of the record doesn’t lean on constructing more hooks, as they don’t carry the same stickiness in comparison with the songs that do have them, resulting in the back half somehow slightly fading out of the picture.
Yet, despite the numbness that might shamble parts of this record, there is something about the crisp production, sharper compositions, and engaging vocals that still manage to make the debut album from julie click, mostly due to the hooks, the instrumental passages, and the inflections amplifying more expression amidst its overall exhausted moods. It has enough striking flair to the point where it can mostly overshadow its visible weak points and justifies the brief and blunt lyricism that might not provide much balm in the narrative but provides enough understanding to get into the process of mending each other’s wounds. Amidst their broken shells, the realization of needing each other to heal those cracked forms will be worth the effort.
Favorite Tracks: ‘catalogue’, ‘tenebrist’, ‘very little effort’, ‘knob’, ‘thread, stitch’, ‘feminine adornments’
Least Favorite Track: ‘clairbourne practice’