Julia Holter - Horns Surrounding Me

The unnerving, breathy field recordings from the opening few bars of Julia Holter's Horns Surrounding Me create a cloying sense of claustrophobia that epitomises the gossip-y society she was caricaturing on her recent album 'Loud City Song' (taking her inspiration from the 50s musical Gigi). Back in August she explained to Dummy that: "On Horns Surrounding Me it’s sort of meant to be this guy – it doesn’t have to be a guy but in my mind it is – being chased by paparazzi. So, 'horns' surrounding him, but there the horns and the instruments are symbolising the loud paparazzi. This bombardment of an individual by society."

In the video for the song, based on a concept created by Nite Jewel, Holter moves through mostly empty spaces, in direct contrast to the song's pressurised atmosphere, as she sings from the balcony of an empty theatre and holds an empty fragment of eggshell in her palm. The overall feeling is created by an uneasy contrast between fragility and grandeur and a lot of long, meaningful stares.