This summer, Julia Holter performed "Sharper White" at Human Resources in LA, as filmed above, her face obscured by a rust-colored cloth and her processed keyboard notes squiggling off into the din of the gallery. Today, a new, live video of "Marienbad," shot that same night, has surfaced as well, along with a "draft" version of "Sharper White," which Holter posted to her Soundcloud. The demo is patient and, for the first half at least, delicately hypnotic, tip-toeing across the tiny tightrope of a single sustained high string. Things pick up dramatically for six minutes in the middle though, pushing against the limits of the speakers and showcasing Holter's aerobic grace at all ends of the heartbreaking one-woman-orchestra spectrum. Her second album, Ekstasis, comes out March 8th on RVNG, though "Sharper White" doesn't appear on its track list—just another thing that makes the demo so special.
