“Julie Haven is a memorable vocalist who doesn’t shy away from being extraordinary and out of the box. She isn’t someone you can compare to another artist so easily. In fact, her sound is quite individualistic.”
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Singer-songwriter Julie Haven has been safeguarding a special collection of original songs for many years. These moody, piano-based songs were forged from love, heartbreak, self-discovery, and resilience. They have been performed around the country, and recorded in many studios, yet their elusive essences have never been properly captured until now.
Today, the Metro Detroit-based artist is sharing newly-recorded versions of this very personal catalog of stirring and elegantly enlightening alt-pop as the album, Dramatic Departures, expected for release in spring of 2024. And the timing couldn’t be more perfect: a recent breakup has imbued these songs with even more vitality.
“It feels like these songs have been part of my life forever. They are based on true experiences, and they’ve helped me get through many hard times,” Julie says. “It seems like synchronicity that I am experiencing the same kind of heartbreak today as I went through when I wrote them, and here they are to help me get through.”
Julie is an emotionally raw but musically sophisticated singer-songwriter with a penchant for cinematic arrangements, lush orchestrations, soulful and dynamic vocals, and a flair for lyrics that are both vulnerable and visceral. Julie has garnered favorable comparisons to Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Alanis Morrissette, PJ Harvey, Sarah McLachlan, and Chantal Kreviazuk. She has performed throughout the U.S. in a variety of contexts—from coffee houses to festivals, including many consecutive performances at Michigan’s beloved Arts, Beats and Eats Festival. Previously, Julie released an album, four EPs, and a live record. Dramatic Departures, however, will be her first full-length album available for worldwide release.
Julie is one of those rare talents that began singing as soon as she could speak. Her father is a jazz guitarist, but she embarked on her path to making music through rescuing a neglected upright piano that was in danger of being thrown out. This lonely vessel of expression became her best friend as she sought solace in it while enduring school bullying and battling low self-esteem.
The self-taught musician wrote her first song at the age of 7. By seventh grade, spurred on by Tori Amos’ album Under the Pink, Julie began seriously considering a career in music and was regularly performing solo shows at local music venues. There, she impressed audiences and the surrounding musician community with the emotional maturity conveyed in her songs. One local veteran blues musician presented Julie with the surname “Haven” when she was 16 because he was so moved and soothed by her original songs. Julie would go on to spend the rest of her teens performing in small coffee shops and open mics until she officially became a professional musician at the age of 20.
Over two decades, Julie has evolved to become a heartfelt but polished musician who has performed both as a solo artist and as part of several groups. She’s gigged extensively in the Midwest and the South. One fateful night performing in Atlanta, Georgia, on her way to Nashville, Tennessee, a group of likeminded performers suggested she seek out Nashville-based producer Stephen Leiweke (Ingrid Michaelson, Jason Gray). He would be the one to unlock the soul of the songs on Dramatic Departures.
Julie has had many years to sculpt the songs on the 11-track album, and fittingly it’s chock full of well-crafted, poignant, and poetic songwriting. The haunting “Kill Me” is built around an ominous piano motif, and lavished with sensually expressive vocal harmonies, eerie strings, and melancholy electro-pop ambience. This is a song about the kind of love betrayal that leaves you gutted and powerless, and you stay in the relationship while dying inside. The song’s accompanying video features striking animation best described as an artful abstraction of heartbreak, starring a one-of-a-kind, CreepynCute Doll named “Charlotte.” The adorably frightening doll is handmade in Detroit by the boutique company, CreepynCuteShop.
The dynamically-arranged piano ballad, “Between The Lies,” features quiet intimate musical moments contrasted with hard-hitting passages. This push and pull is designed to convey the volatility of an abusive relationship. The “Between The Lies” video is a powerful portrayal of toxic love cycles. The jaunty, “Running Man,” is a rarity in Julie’s oeuvre—an upbeat piano pop-rocker aimed at a partner who always shirked the emotional responsibilities of adult relationships.
Julie expresses pent-up anger with sass and swagger on “And Your Little Dog Too.” She explores a bright pop sound on “See Me Cry,” intriguingly juxtaposing a sing-along sensibility with seething resentment for a partner who didn’t want to see her cry yet continued enacting a hot-and-cold relationship cycle.
Dramatic Departures is shaping up to be Julie’s pathway to healing, and it will be the opening salvo in a new era of uncompromising creativity. “I’m so happy to be able to finally share these songs publicly. I look at these songs as a toolbox to work through the emotions I am feeling right now,” she says. “It’s my hope that they can help others process and move through heartbreak.”
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