B4TheCrowd Magazine

People tend to use the word “perfect” often and loosely when it comes to music.

“Oh, this song is perfect.”

“I love this so much, it’s perfect!”

I am not one of those people.

When analyzing music, I tend to look at three main factors. First, I go off the initial feelings that the music brings out of me. Second, I search for the minute details. The production. How well the track is mixed. The playing of each instrument and how the vocals work hand in hand with them. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, I look for replay value. Does this song or record make me want to come back?

All three boxes were checked for me when reviewing my anti-aircraft friend.

Previously, I covered the first three tracks of the record: 𝙲𝙰𝚃𝙰𝙻𝙾𝙶𝚄𝙴, 𝔱𝔢𝔫𝔢𝔟𝔯𝔦𝔰𝔱, and 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵. All three beautifully set the album up for success.

From here, julie had two options. They could tail off and continue using the same formula that had already been “working,” or they could continue pushing the experimentality of the record even further.

They chose the latter.

The next three tracks are where, in my opinion, my anti-aircraft friend goes from being a great record to something special. 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎, 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓, and 𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭, 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓽𝓬𝓱 make up what I believe is one of the best three track runs in alternative noise rock I have heard in a long time.

Three songs. Three different stories.

𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎

“𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎” opens directly from where “very little effort” ends. Lee counts the group in before they explode into a wall of sound that mimics the shoegazey tone of influences such as My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. If you were to click on this song without listening to the track before it, you would immediately be thrown into a world of shoegaze with absolutely no warning.

And I love that.

Shortly after the explosion, we are taken back down to the mellow instrumental tone that julie tends to fall into when showing off their vocal talents. For the first time on the record, we hear both Brady and Pourzand truly sing together. Brady’s sweet and soft voice matches extremely well with Pourzand’s light, dark, and almost monotone singing. Their voices are so different from one another, but that contrast is exactly what makes them work so well together.

This track’s focus, at least to me, was clearly not meant to be heavily interpreted through its lyrics. There aren’t many lyrics to begin with, with the song mainly consisting of a repeated verse and refrain. Towards the end of the track, Brady and Pourzand sing together:

What a way to make your day
Well, I don’t know
It just makes me feel like
The things you do, and all you say
I’ll cut my hair another way

To be truthfully honest, I am not completely confident in my interpretation of this verse. I believe they are singing from the perspective of someone who is trying to change parts of themselves to make their lover value them more. The line “I’ll cut my hair another way” especially makes me think of someone changing their appearance in hopes that another person will see them differently or finally give them the attention they are searching for.

Which I can personally relate to.

Sometimes something as simple as changing your hair or the way you dress can really be rooted in wanting a specific person to notice you. Maybe it isn’t even about completely changing who you are, but rather wondering if changing this one little thing about yourself could finally make someone see you the way you want them to.

Like I said, though, this track’s purpose on the record clearly isn’t about telling some huge story through its lyricism.

This song is about the sound.

“𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎“ feels like a showcase of the instrumental talent that julie brings to the table. We hear them pulling from the shoegaze sound of bands like My Bloody Valentine while still adding the stop and go formula that makes their music so recognizable. They don’t just create a wall of noise and sit inside of it. They build it up, tear it down, give you a second to breathe, and then build it right back up again.

More than anyone else, though, this track is a standout for drummer Dillon Lee. On other tracks throughout the record, either Pourzand’s guitar playing or Brady’s vocals and bass might be what drives the song forward.

Here, it is all Lee.

His drumming controls so much of the movement throughout the track, especially during those sudden shifts between the quieter sections and the explosions of noise. He knows when to sit behind Brady and Pourzand and when to completely take over. With how much attention I naturally give Pourzand’s guitar tone and Brady’s vocals when listening to julie, this is one of those tracks that reminds me just how important Lee is to their sound.

To end the track, we are given around 30 seconds of guitar feedback accompanied by a repeated female voice that sounds like it is coming from a broken record, television, or radio station. The words repeat:

(To draw their imaginary tormentors)
(Teachers asked a few of the troubled students)
(To draw their imaginary tormentors)
(But the result only puzzled them further)

This outro has always confused me.

After doing some research, I learned that the audio comes from a clip on Dillon’s Tumblr titled “the victoria kindergarten project.” Even knowing where the audio comes from doesn’t make the ending any less strange to me. The repeated voice mixed with the feedback creates this unsettling feeling, almost like you’re picking up a random transmission that you weren’t supposed to hear.

But I think that’s why it works.

The feedback continues, the voice keeps repeating itself, and “𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎“ never really gives you a clean ending. Instead, all of that noise slowly bleeds into the next track.

And what comes next, in my opinion, is the best song on the entire record.

A perfect 10 out of 10.

Julie’s Magnum Opus

𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓

𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓

A song that I have covered on this site by itself before.

But I have to talk about it again.

I remember EXACTLY where I was when I first heard this song. It was January 18th, and I was driving back home to D.C. to celebrate a friend’s birthday. It had snowed earlier that week, so the roads were still fairly icy, and the drive was somewhere in the range of two and a half hours. At the same time, I was in the middle of a not so fun romantic situation that, regretfully, I find myself in more than I’d like.

Then I heard “𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓.”

I replayed it.

Then I replayed it again.

I legitimately listened to this song for probably two hours of that drive. I honestly believe I even teared up at some point while listening to it.

“𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓” is one of those songs for me.

The track opens with almost two full minutes, one minute and 47 seconds to be exact, of just Pourzand’s guitar playing and vocals. Pourzand shines in this section with a beautiful chord progression paired with his hurtful, almost Kurt Cobain like lyricism and delivery. There isn’t much going on instrumentally yet, and there doesn’t need to be. His guitar and voice are enough to completely carry the opening.

Give it away like
Two stones to all your birds soon
I’ve got a while ’til I
Show up and burn
Needin’ a way to give in
Lean in to take your turn

The first line, “Give it away…” draws me to believe Pourzand is encouraging the person he is speaking to to give in to their desires and let go of whatever they are holding onto, whether that be control, fear, or vulnerability. I personally think it is the latter. It feels like Pourzand is telling this person to stop trying to be so tough with their partner and just allow themselves to be vulnerable, which leads perfectly into the next line, “Two stones to all your birds soon.”

To me, this line feels like a twisted version of “killing two birds with one stone.” Pourzand is basically saying that if they would just give in and allow themselves to love each other fully, maybe some of the problems between them would disappear with it. But even after one person finally becomes vulnerable, there is still this unavoidable feeling of “burning,” like the relationship is doomed regardless. The last few lines push that feeling even further. It almost becomes a game between the two of them. They take turns trying to be vulnerable and give themselves to each other, but both are still holding something back. They are each waiting for the other person to completely open up first, and because neither one does, nothing ever truly gets resolved.

Then Pourzand breaks into the next verse, and this is where his lyricism shines even more.

All apart from you
I took too long and you gave it away
Couldn’t start from here
You’re pleading away
It just makes you lose
All the crows showin’ teeth
They’ll leave you be
Couldn’t make it out to me

This verse, from my understanding, is the direct aftermath of the relationship that has been described throughout the song. “I took too long and you gave it away.” WOW. That might genuinely be one of the most heartbreaking lines on the whole record. It feels like one person took too long to finally show vulnerability or truly admit how they felt, and by the time they were ready, the other person had already moved on. There is something so simple about the line, but that is what makes it hurt even more. You waited too long, and now whatever you could have had is gone.

Then Pourzand hits us with “All the crows showin’ teeth, they’ll leave you be.” Like, what does this line even mean lol. But this is exactly what I mean when I say I love and value Pourzand’s writing so much. Crows obviously do not have teeth, so the image immediately feels unnatural and almost nightmarish. I picture the character being surrounded by these problems that have taken on these impossible, terrifying forms. At the same time, Pourzand follows that image with “they’ll leave you be,” giving this weird sense of reassurance. Maybe all of these things that feel terrifying right now will eventually pass. Maybe they will not. He never really gives us the answer.

And then we get “Couldn’t make it out to me.” That is just julie to a T. Nothing is completely explained. Nothing is wrapped up nicely. Everything is left unresolved and fleeting, which honestly makes the song feel more real to me. Relationships do not always end with some huge moment where both people understand exactly what happened. Sometimes someone waits too long. Sometimes things are left unsaid. Sometimes you are just left trying to make sense of something that is already over.

Then, around the two minute mark, the lyrics give way to the actual instrumentality again, and Brady’s bass and Dillon’s drums come crashing back in, almost startling you after how much space Pourzand’s vocals were just given. They play, they crash, they build, and then suddenly they pull everything back again just to give Pourzand room to sing. The song keeps repeating this formula of noise and restraint, almost like the instruments themselves are mimicking the relationship Pourzand is describing. Everything wants to explode, but something always pulls it back before it completely does.

And somehow, that is enough.

This song is a perfect 10 out of 10 for me. It is julie’s oldest song. It is a song they do not even play at most shows anymore. It does not have nearly as many twists and turns as some of the music they would go on to make, and it is nowhere near their most complicated song musically. But maybe that is exactly why I love it so much. It does not need to be anything more than what it is. The lyrics are confusing, vulnerable, beautiful, and sometimes impossible to fully understand. The instrumentation knows exactly when to overwhelm you and when to disappear.

Out of everything julie has made since, this little song from the beginning of their career is still the one I find myself coming back to. And I have a feeling it will remain one of my favorite songs of all time.

“𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭, 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓽𝓬𝓱” starts with an immediate punch. Pourzand comes in with this heavy, grungy chord progression before all three members crash together into a wall of distortion. What really makes this intro for me, though, is the way Pourzand uses his tremolo bar. The guitar bends and falls in a way that I can only compare to that feeling of falling in a dream, right before you suddenly wake yourself up before hitting the ground.

And then, in a split second, it is gone.

The distortion fades and julie falls right back into that beautiful formula they have mastered throughout this record: calm before the impending storm. At this point, you almost know another explosion is coming. You are just sitting there waiting for it.

Pourzand opens with some rather confusing lyrics, but confusing lyrics are nothing new here.

I’ve tried so hard to be you
It’s been far too long for it to be here
I’ll count thread, stitch, and all that will mend you
I’ll be awake when I see you

Now stay with me because this interpretation is going to get a little off the rails.

Put your tin foil hat on.

I think Pourzand is describing someone trapped inside of a dream or at least some kind of dreamlike world. The character is looking at another person, maybe a romantic partner or simply someone they deeply admire, and they have become so infatuated with them that they are beginning to lose themselves in the process.

The line “I’ve tried so hard to be you” is what immediately sends me in that direction. This is not just someone who loves another person. They want to become them.

Then we get “I’ll count thread, stitch, and all that will mend you.” This is where the title starts to make more sense to me. Thread and stitches are things we use to bring something that has been torn apart back together. On the surface, the character could be talking about wanting to “mend” this other person. But I think there is something deeper happening. Maybe while they are trying to stitch this person back together, they are also stitching themselves into that person’s image.

They have put this person on such a high pedestal that becoming closer to them is no longer enough.

They want to become them.

Then Brady enters and almost immediately challenges everything Pourzand has just built by telling us to “come unto.”Her voice is surrounded by this beautiful but clashing wall of sound, and it almost feels like she is trying to wake us up from whatever dream Pourzand has pulled us into.

And this is where my dream theory starts making even more sense to me.

We begin to realize that this person the character has been obsessing over might not actually be as perfect as they imagined. Brady seems to expose something darker underneath that image. The person our character has been trying so desperately to imitate might be just as flawed and broken as everyone else.

Imagine spending all this time trying to stitch yourself together in someone else’s image, only to realize they were never whole either.

That is what makes Pourzand and Brady singing together feel so important. When they ask if the character “could believe their eyes,” it almost sounds like the illusion is finally collapsing. The perfect version of this person that existed inside their head is being replaced by who they actually are.

And then we get the line that really sells the dream interpretation for me:

“All you say is wake up and make you mine.”

I mean… come on.

Maybe “waking up” is literal. Maybe it is the character finally escaping this dream. Or maybe waking up means finally seeing this person for who they really are instead of who they wanted them to be. Either way, there is something really interesting about julie connecting love, obsession, dreams, and identity all within the same song.

Then, almost like we are being thrown back into the dream again, that same chord progression from the beginning returns.

But julie does not let us stay there for long.

The song cuts into another verse, with Pourzand and Brady eventually singing about how “the mind is a slow refrain.” I love that line because it almost describes the song itself. A refrain is something that repeats, and “𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭, 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓽𝓬𝓱”constantly feels like it is circling back on itself. Sounds return. Ideas return. The same thoughts keep creeping back into the character’s head.

And honestly, isn’t that what obsession feels like?

The song continues like this for another couple of minutes, constantly bouncing between melody, distortion, Pourzand, Brady, and the entire band crashing together. It feels like every member gets their moment without any one person completely taking over the track.

And that is what makes this song the perfect ending to this three track run for me.

“𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎” feels like julie showing off their instrumental ability.

“𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕓” strips everything back and lets Pourzand’s guitar, voice, and lyricism completely destroy me.

Then “𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭, 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓽𝓬𝓱” sits somewhere beautifully in between.

It has the noise. It has the strange lyrics. It has the vocal chemistry between Pourzand and Brady. It has Dillon’s drumming holding all of the chaos together. It has those sudden shifts between softness and distortion that julie does so well.

Three songs. Three completely different experiences.

And somehow, they all sound unmistakably like julie.

With that being said, we still have four songs left to cover. These next four range from some of my favorites on the entire record to a few that, truthfully, I could probably go without while still appreciating what julie was trying to do artistically.

There is one in particular that I am VERY interested to talk about, especially because of what I hear as a heavy Kurt Cobain influence throughout the track.

But we’ll get there.

Thank you for reading.

Part 2 of 3. Part 3 tomorrow.