Julie, a Los Angeles–based trio, is back, and they’re making noise literally. With the announcement of their long-awaited debut album, My Anti-Aircraft Friend, the band has released “clairebourne Practice,” a blistering, sonically dense track that finds the group embracing their dark, distortion-heavy realm even further.
“clairebourne practice” hits like a fever dream urgent, hazy, and untamed. The quartet behind the hypnotic march first captured attention back in 2020 with “Flutter” and immediately sets the tone here with a riff that reverberates the not-so-light nostalgia of ’90s shoegaze heavyweights such as Hum and Deftones. Barrier-thick layers of fuzz tangle with shifting dynamics to make a restless back-and-forth that doesn’t really let up.
At “clairebourne practice” center, Alex Brady and Keyan Pourzand’s vocals intermingle in a simultaneously intimate and separated way. The lead vocals are ethereal, hovering over the chaotic instrumental, never quite blending into the soundscape, creating tension long after the last note fades. “What a way to make your day? Oh, I don’t know . You just said so,” they murmur, pulling the listener into a cryptic and evocative haze.
Through “clairbourne practice,” julie shows they are not afraid of hailing the beauty found in dissonance, and the result is a track that feels like a well-timed detonation entrancing, riotous, and utterly inescapable. As they prepare to battle with my anti-aircraft friend, it’s plain to see this band barely scratching the surface of their sonic ambitions.