Julie Hill is a NY based artist who makes ambient music and sometimes makes pop music - her next release is the more ambient-leaning glow serene which will be released August 30.
Here's some background on the album directly from Julie:
In December 2021, I was living in Brooklyn with strangers I’d met via an ad on Craigslist, feeling alone amidst waves of Christmastime COVID that still took New York City by surprise. Then the unthinkable happened- my aunt and both grandmothers were diagnosed with different forms of cancer. I’ve always had very close, deeply empathetic relationships with these women in my family; and their sickness weighed heavily upon me. Around the same time, I also found out I was at risk for cancer. Heartbroken, I turned towards music for relief.
My musical practice truly became a sort of meditation wherein my sound world represented a peaceful alternate reality. It was a way to escape what I felt inside most of the day - working and living in very chaotic environments. For me, the sounds were both an outlet and a practice of positive mindfulness. My synthesizers and voice could express a dream of serene health, a desire for self-love and intimacy, a memory, profound self-reflection, and gratitude for those who made me feel humanized, connected, and hopeful during difficult times. Field recordings of nature could take me out of my small apartment on Bushwick Ave to a river or somewhere birds sing.
glow serene is the culmination of these musical meditations beginning with an improvisation joined by Jack McLoughlin (guitar), Zachary Paul (violin) and Zubin Hensler (horn). The title track begins by paying homage to Suzanne Ciani’s early electronic works which inspired me at the time. It opens up beckoning the listener into a meditation. The poetic lyric of “rove on the shadows” is a loving memory of lying down in a park with my friend who found ways to create moments of peace with me throughout this turbulent time. “An ether and time” dips into a memory about the body and the company of someone we’ve lost or have not seen in a very long time. Then comes “in and out of your mind” - a song about self-love and enjoying the gift of the body, the gift of movement - dedicated to another dear friend who was supportive of me through these difficult times. The album ends with “ambient bliss” - an instrumental that came out of deep self-reflection and a large shift in my perspective on personal relationships.
If read in succession, the song titles spell out a poem:
in autonoesis, you glow serene;
rove on the shadows infinite;
an ether and time in and out of your mind’s ambient bliss
For the past two years, one of my grandmothers has consistently told me about the way she travels in her mind to achieve peace, away from the constant physical and emotional pain she experiences. Autonoetic consciousness is the human ability to mentally place oneself in the past and future (mental time travel) or in counterfactual situations (alternative outcomes) and thus be able to examine one’s own thoughts. It deals with self-awareness, one’s sense of self, and self- projection. I believe this tactic has helped her live for much longer than expected; it also helped me imagine and manifest the life I live today.
Musicians featured on this album:
Julie Hill - Synths, piano, vocals - (she / her/ they / them)
Jack McLoughlin - Electric guitar - (he/ him)
Zachary Paul - Violin - (he/ him)
Zubin Hensler - Horn - (he/ him)
Sean Mullins - Percussion - (he/ him)
Photo credits - Andrew Thompson (above) & David Lawrence (below)
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