Julien Aklei gets all psychedelic on you (Leo Magazine)
I’ve been listening to Syd Barrett’s The Madcap Laughs a lot lately. For the unfamiliar, it’s a solo record Barrett made after his brief time with Pink Floyd. The music is transcendent in its child-like outlook on the world. See, when the Beatles tried to make simple, childish songs (“Yellow Submarine,” “Goodnight”), they came out simple and childish, but Barrett’s simple and childish songs are otherworldly.
Hearing Julien Aklei for the first time, I’m reminded of Barrett’s painfully beautiful music. They seem to be kindred spirits in their unique way of viewing the world. Aklei has somehow managed to write her songs from a place outside of this world that drags down the human spirit. Her new record, Pink Star of the Beautiful Ohio, is like a series of dreams. The kind of dreams where nothing necessarily makes sense, but it’s wonderful: all cotton candy clouds and sliding down rainbows. The worst part is waking up.
I don’t mean to say that Aklei is naively positive. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: Her songs are filled with conflict. It’s just that the conflict has nothing to do with work, deadlines and traffic jams and everything to do with the troubles found in the darker end of the fairy tale and nursery rhyme spectrum. There is an endless stream of broken hearts, ghosts and vengeful gods to contend with.
Again, that’s not to imply that Aklei sings songs for children. Many of her songs, though not graphic, are quite sexual in nature, and frequently involve soldiers, for some reason.
It’s pretty hard to pin Aklei down, and I don’t think that’s an accident or a bad thing. Her music is simply some of the most beautiful I have heard. Hear it for yourself atwww.julienaklei.com, where she has several full albums available for download.