by Dan Goldin (@paintingwithdan)
While best known for her time spent in The Coathangers, Julia Kugel has been busy over the past six years, creating the Happy Sundays Festival, releasing music as one half of Soft Palms, and establishing her solo project, Julia, Julia. Two years after the release of Derealization, she returns with her second solo record, Sugaring A Strawberry, due out on September 9th via Suicide Squeeze Records (Holy Wave, Chastity Belt, Minus The Bear) and Happy Sundays Records. The album is gorgeous and dreamy, surrealist and psychedelic, an auditory plume of haze on a hot summer day.
“Bound” is the record’s lead single and opening track, setting the tone for the record’s arid dream pop atmosphere. There’s an old Western feel to the introduction, a sense of rambling bliss with a beautifully mysterious touch, opening itself to the soft reverberating calm of the vocals. “Bound” feels as though it’s been pulled from the Twin Peaks roadhouse, a melody built on half remembered dream scapes and intrigue. It’s a recording that picks up on natural surroundings, echoing into the distance with a calming immediacy. The video, directed by Your Intimate Noise, picks up on that theme, capturing home footage of Kugel over-layed with plant life and deteriorating dreamscapes.
Speaking about the album and single, Kugel shared:
"I made Sugaring A Strawberry in an effort to reconnect to something human. AI, streaming, and the digital experience of music have left me feeling a bit empty. I wanted to re-evaluate and reset. I would love for people to experience the record on vinyl - with all the cracks and imperfections. Along with the legendary Suicide Squeeze Records, Sugaring A Strawberry is proudly co-released on Happy Sundays Records—an extension of the festival we put on every year. This will be the first record released on Happy Sundays Records."
"The video is a dreamy representation of the song - a retro style technicolor dream. Grateful to get the chance to work with Your Intimate Noise again after our collaboration on the "Do It Or Don't" video for the last record. As always with the best editing by Scott Montoya."
In (exciting) related news, Kugel has formed a new band called Animal Self together with none other than Coady Willis (Big Business, Melvins, Murder City Devils) and Kareem Joseph Karam (The Locust, Le Shok) and well, we can’t wait to hear that.