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Ekstasis Image
Metascore
83

Universal acclaim - based on 18 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 33 Ratings

  • Summary: The second release from the Californian indie singer-songwriter has more of a pop feel than her 2011 debut, Tragedy.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 18
  2. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Mar 23, 2012
    87
    With Julia Holter, with this profound and inexhaustibly gorgeous album, we can transcend our own transcendence and find the greatest bliss in the joyful renunciation of what makes us us.
  2. Mar 13, 2012
    86
    Music that's both haunting and life-affirming, something to make you dream and think.
  3. Mar 13, 2012
    80
    Ekstasis is ecstatically good.
  4. Mar 13, 2012
    80
    It's both refreshing and exciting to hear an artist so vividly committed to exploring new frontiers in such a rewarding way.
  5. Uncut
    Mar 16, 2012
    80
    It's remarkable that the cosmic Ekstasis--recorded in Holter's home with only five musicians--feels surer of itself than Tragedy, a record rooted in millennnia-old practice. [Apr 2012, p.72]
  6. Apr 5, 2012
    80
    Ekstasis is brimming with them though [moments that are avant-gard yet instantly accessible] -an album so coherently constructed that it's perhaps more notable for its instants, its moments and sequences, than its full tracks.
  7. Mar 27, 2012
    60
    Ekstasis is a lovely record. Bedroom pop that floats and swoons, it has a lightness to it at the same time as a real sense of seriousness and ambition.

See all 18 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Aug 18, 2013
    10
    This is amazing. So many musical ideas flowing throughout the songs all coming together beautifully. This a real artistic achievement, justThis is amazing. So many musical ideas flowing throughout the songs all coming together beautifully. This a real artistic achievement, just brilliant. If this doesn't deserve a perfect score then i don't know what does. Expand
  2. Feb 5, 2014
    9
    E’ forse esagerato scrivere che, al confronto di ‘Ekstasis’, il successore ‘Loud city song’ sembri Dusty Springfield, ma le dieci austereE’ forse esagerato scrivere che, al confronto di ‘Ekstasis’, il successore ‘Loud city song’ sembri Dusty Springfield, ma le dieci austere tracce che compongono questo lavoro costringono assai di più l’ascoltatore a un ascolto attento e partecipe: non è possible utilizzarne la musica come sottofondo ad altre attività, altrimenti sembrerebbe solo un’accozzaglia di suoni spesso incoerenti e fastidiosi. Porgendo l’orecchio, invece, si entra nel brumoso mondo – ben rappresentato dalla foto sfocata in copertina -costruito dalla musicista statunitense che, utilizzando soprattutto l’elettronica e la sua voce, rende affascinante sonorità che, sovente sussurrate, esplorano tutta la scala dei grigi. La costruzione dei brani è a volte simile. Su un tappeto sintetico, la parte vocale è sovrapposta - a volte in più strati e in molti casi filtrata - per poi librarsi all’improvviso verso accenni operistici oppure orientaleggianti: in mezzo a questi tranquilli marosi, emerge di tanto in tanto una delicata melodia che, seppure minoritaria, finisce per dare senso e coesione al tutto. Tra Laurie Anderson e Kate Bush si articolano così i primi tre pezzi, con l’apertura di ‘Marienbad’ che si sviluppa nelle successive ‘Our sorrows’ e ‘In the same room’ quasi che fossero uno scendere nel dettaglio di quanto delineato nel brano iniziale: il terzo titolo, più corto, mette in risalto un battito elettronico di maggior rilievo e, soprattutto, delinea quei profili d’Oriente che poi vengono portati in primo piano in ‘Four gardens’, fascinoso brano labirintico in cui sono presenti anche la filastrocca, i momenti sognanti e il brusco ritorno sulla terra rumoristico regalato dal clarinetto schizofrenico di Max Kaplan. Al termine di ‘In the same room’ – e un attimo prima della stucchevolezza – c’è pero uno scarto: non di ritmo, chè tutto il disco si muove su di un ipnotico andamento rallentato, ma di atmosfera con quello che si potrebbe anche definire un blues. ‘Boy in the moon’ è una sorta di omaggio ai Velvet Underground (c’è anche la viola di Catherine Lamb) sotto metaqualone: per metà ‘Sunday morning’ (Julia abbandona il preferito registro alto per uno assai più grave che la avvicini a Nico) e per metà ‘European son’ con tanto di deriva cacofonica, ma tutto in tempi talmente dilatati che, se si trattasse di un tessuto, parrebbe sempre lì lì per strapparsi. Un certo qual approccio da camera unito a un cantato che può ricordare Enya – di nuovo, e anche di più, la filastrocca – rischiara leggermente l’ambientazione nella successiva ‘Für Felix’ mentre subito a seguire ‘Goddess eyes II’ recupera gli stilemi dei primi pezzi solo con una punta di accessibilità in più. Detto che è molto interessante anche il folk raggelato di ‘Moni Mon Amie’, non si può non sottolineare la chiusura di ‘This is ekstasis’: un altro blues spettrale che sembra riassumere tutto il disco seppur allontanandosene attraverso l’utilizzo di molti strumenti ‘analogici’ come il disturbante sassofono di Casey Anderson. Quando svaniscono gli ultimi secondi dei quasi nove minuti che ne costituiscono la durata, all’ascoltatore sembra che gli sia sfuggito qualcosa (di sicuro le colte citazioni d’ambito poetico che Holter distribuisce qua e là) e si ritrova a ricominciare l’ascolto per cercare di cogliere le mille sfumature di un lavoro difficile ma affascinante. Expand
  3. Mar 31, 2012
    8
    Julia Holter's "Ekstasis" album is definitely invading the waters of pop music with more power than its predecessor "Tragedy". And it'sJulia Holter's "Ekstasis" album is definitely invading the waters of pop music with more power than its predecessor "Tragedy". And it's certainly better. Tracks have something that makes you forget yourself thanks to them. Compositions are kind of seemingly quiet indie folk songs combined with elements of electronics or synthesizers, but overall you listen to album with pleasure. Expand
  4. Jul 12, 2012
    8
    This is perhaps the most unique album I've heard all year. On "Ekstasis", Holter envelopes the listener in the world of her music -- and it isThis is perhaps the most unique album I've heard all year. On "Ekstasis", Holter envelopes the listener in the world of her music -- and it is a very rewarding visit. This album is challenging, to be sure; I personally didn't come close to wrapping my head around it until the third listen. However, any patient listener will discover a true gem. Holter succeeds in balancing eccentricity and consistency. Impressively varied instrumentation, engaging melodies, ambient textures, and delicate arrangements produce a truly intriguing ambiance that's not without its share of hooks and surprises. It sounds at once modern and traditional, lighthearted and serious, like some sort of renaissance fair in a Blade Runner world. I very much look forward to more from Julia Holter in the future. Expand
  5. Oct 20, 2012
    8
    Only for the first track I could realize that this is an album that requires several listens, for the complexity and cohesion between theOnly for the first track I could realize that this is an album that requires several listens, for the complexity and cohesion between the songs. However, in my first listen, it transmitted me contradicting emotions of warmth and coldness, being distant and close at the same time, seeming to be made a in her own room and at the same having some really interesting production arrangements. This contrasts are probably a result of making the Electronics of this album sound very natural (sometimes). It is a very enjoyable and realizing album Expand
  6. Apr 12, 2013
    7
    Not good as 'Tragedy', which is one of the best albums of the decade, but more commercial and accessible. 'Marienbad' is one of the best popNot good as 'Tragedy', which is one of the best albums of the decade, but more commercial and accessible. 'Marienbad' is one of the best pop songs of the year. Collapse
  7. Aug 25, 2022
    7
    Quietly intimate avant-garde chamber pop folk thatvfeels like if Joanne Newsome had to whisper

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