The afternoon at the Volkshotel wasn’t my first time meeting Yulya Divakova, aka Russian musician and producer Giant Julie. About a year prior, she was the engineer who recorded the audio for The Tallest Man On Earth‘s session for The Influences. Not this time though, now she took her place in front of the cameras and the microphones and recorded her new single In My Room and covers of Alex G’s Babylon and Eartheater’s Volcano.
“However trite life can be, it is still legendary and dramatic.”
Yulya Divakova – who has been living in the Netherlands for several years now – writes and produces her own music under the name Giant Julie. Additionally, she works in Amsterdam as a live and studio engineer. Divakova was responsible for the recordings and mix of Lewsberg’s latest album Out and About.
“Both songs that I cover here are separate universes, and are unique in the feeling they express.
Babylon feels pacifying. When I sing it I feel transported to a timeless city where legends form, where heroes live and die for thousands of years. That’s because it is called Babylon, and because of the deep and mystical sounds. But most of the lyrics are actually about the very mundane misunderstandings between two human beings in a relationship. This combination is beautiful to me.”
“Volcano is a song by Eartheater who I continue to be grateful to for her honesty in writing about the body. Lyrics about sexuality and desire that are nuanced and not male-centric are very hard to come by. I also love this song for the melodies, it is just really satisfying to travel this distance with my voice. It really carries you.”
These songs are a very good sample of Yulya Divakova’s influences in general, she explains: “I love the feeling that however trite life can be it is still legendary and dramatic. I love that capacity of music to translate everyday experiences into dreams and tales, and vice versa.”
“I suddenly discovered something powerful and raw.”
Giant Julie released In My Room last June; an experimental and personal ballad reminiscent of the work of Björk, Eartheater, and Mitski. While writing, Giant Julie drew inspiration from musicians and producers such as Grimes, SOPHIE, Frank Ocean, and serpentwithfeet. Giant Julie – real name Yulya Divakova – has never spent so much time working on a single track before.
Despite her frustrations with the slow writing process, perseverance paid off: “All that energy is now in this song. It took several months to find a story line and to make the song flow from start to finish. In My Room underwent so many transformations until I suddenly discovered something powerful and raw in it. With the chorus, the dark cellos, the subs, and the vocals, the patchwork suddenly became a cohesive whole. Frank Ocean’s music inspired me to bare my vocals more and to use them almost as a percussive instrument.” The song Believer by Smerz, as well as Mica Levi’s remix of Björk’s Lionsong, served as inspiration for the ominous strings.
Divakova has a love for the deep and haunting sound of Massive Attack, personalities like Alex G, Mitski, Eartheater, and the music of St. Vincent. Divakova: “I’m currently very inspired by Rema and Tokischa, the boldness of their vocals and their infectious beats. I believe in songwriting; I believe in the transformative power of art.”