Like one of those odd, otherworldly flowers that buds so rarely it makes the news when the petals finally begin to uncurl, Julie Christmas returns with a startling new solo album.
She might have made her name fronting a clutch of difficult, dangerous-sounding albums for Made Out Of Babies and Battle Of Mice in the mid-00s, but it’s her later work that has demonstrated the true breadth of her talent: 2010 solo album The Bad Wife and 2016’s scintillating Cult Of Luna collaboration, Mariner.
Even for an artist whose music defies easy categorisation, Ridiculous And Full Of Blood darts down numerous unexpected paths. Versatile, nuanced and multifaceted, it feels like a logical successor to The Bad Wife, despite its wholesale uncanniness. The baroque overtones and jaunty accordion have been replaced with expansive sweeps, plush post-rock and fizzling avant-pop, all of which cohere into a rich, rounded release that is simultaneously approachable and obtuse.
Julie’s coos, croons and querulous catcalls are interspersed with the occasional bloodcurdling shriek, all deployed in line with some deep, idiosyncratic design that speaks to all the life that’s been lived since she last entered the recording studio.
Tracks like The Ash – forged of huge, prismatic riffs while Julie sounds like she’s trying to wrestle with lightning - and the aptly titled End Of The World, assisted by a brilliantly craggy-sounding Johannes Persson, on loan from Cult Of Luna, offer satisfying heft, but there’s no shortage of intrigue to be found within the album’s lighter-touch moments.
Supernatural provides soaring pop, while the playfully squelchy Kids suggests Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden losing himself in a bumper-sized bucket of Haribo. Whether it’s scuttling, crunching, or throwing off showers of incandescent sparks, though, there’s a giddy, genreless joy to it all, ensuring Ridiculous And Full Of Blood upends every expectation you might have, while delivering one spine-tingling thrill after another.
Ridiculous And Full Of Blood is out June 14 via Red CRK.
