Julie returns with their highly anticipated debut album, "My Anti-Aircraft Friend," a captivating melding of melancholic introspection and whirling sonic power. Following a pair of breakthrough EPs and a growing cult following, the band Keyan Pourzand (guitar, vocals), Dillon Lee (drums), and Alexandria Elizabeth (bass, vocals) offer a record that firmly places them on the cutting edge of experimental rock.
"My anti-aircraft friend" is a dreamy but volatile soundscape, blending fuzzed-out guitars, hypnotic basslines, and ethereal vocals into an emotive, atmospheric whirlwind. The opening track, "Catalogue," sets a tone with these brooding melodies, with a raw lyrical vulnerability that captures nostalgia, disillusionment, and self-reflection. Immediately, multitracked vocals and walls of feedback-soaked guitar swallow up the listener in Julie's aural landscape.
"My anti-aircraft friend" standout track, "Very Little Effort," showcases the band's talent for fusing soft vocals with distorted instrumentation to create an unsettling, borderline hypnotic tension. By contrast, "knob" leans into a heavier, more chaotic arrangement, its relentless rhythms and textured layers mirroring the album's broader themes of uncertainty and alienation.
Clocking in at 39 minutes and 18 seconds, "My Anti-aircraft Friend" is a ten-track odyssey that shirks traditional genre constraints throughout its runtime. Four parts borrow from shoegaze, two from grunge, and the other four from post-punk to forge a sound all their own. "My anti-aircraft friend" cements Julie's reputation for making personal yet explosive, delicate, but unremittingly strong music.