Name: Perfect Version
Brand: Julia Shapiro

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

HAR114

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Colour

Blue

Colour details

Royal Blue

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Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: Yes

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

First Pressing on Royal Blue Vinyl.

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Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2019-07-05

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Forte

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

Total Cap

1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / blue

HARCD114

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Download code: No

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Julia Shapiro

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

Hardly Art

Hardly Art is an independent record label based in Seattle, WA. Founded in early 2007 by Sub Pop Records, Hardly Art is run by three full-time employees and is distributed by the Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) and Sub Pop.

With a focus on discovering and promoting emerging artists, Hardly Art has established itself as a prominent player in the music industry. The label prides itself on its commitment to supporting artists who push boundaries and defy genres.

From indie rock to punk, pop to experimental sounds, Hardly Art's diverse roster showcases the best of underground talent. With a catalog that spans across various genres, there's something for every music lover on this innovative label.

Chastity Belt's Julia Shapiro releases solo album Perfect Vision. When Julia Shapiro flew home from a cancelled Chastity Belt tour in April 2018, everything in her life felt out of control. Dealing with health issues, freshly out of a relationship, and in the middle of an existential crisis, she realized halfway through a tour supporting her band’s third album I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone that she was going through too much to continue. “I was really struggling; I was really depressed. I felt like I couldn’t sing or be a person,” Shapiro recalls. “At that point I couldn’t evenimagine playing a show again, I was so over it.”

Returning home to a newly empty Seattle one-bedroom apartment, Shapiro had wanted for a long time to learn how to record and mix her own music, and out of the uncertainty of the future of her music career and her health, she began to record the songs that would become Perfect Version, her solo debut for Hardly Art. What she created in the space of ten songs is an intimate and beautifully self-aware examination of feeling lost in the life you’ve created for yourself. It’s an album of shimmering guitars and layered vocals that feels vast in the emotional depth it conveys and masterful in the way each song is intentionally crafted and recorded.

Over the course of a tumultuous year of trying to find stability amidst depression and surgery, Shapiro ultimately rediscovered the parts of music that she loved through the process. Her perfectionist qualities create an album that shines in tiny lyrical moments and meticulous guitar parts. “When the rest of my life felt out of control, I felt like this was my chance to be in control of everything,” says Shapiro. She plays all the instruments (save for a mouth trumpet solo by Darren Hanlon and guest violin by Annie Truscott) and after recording and mixing the first batch of four songs at the Vault studio with Ian LeSage decided to record the final six tracks alone in her apartment, adding drums in the studio later and learning to mix them with the help of her friend David Hrivnak. Perfect Version is a fully realized vision from a gifted songwriter finding a more intimate voice. “So what comes next?” she questions on the album closer Empty Cup which explores the quiet satisfaction of being alone with yourself and creating a blank slate. “A lasting sense of self,” she concludes.

LP - First Pressing on Royal Blue Vinyl with Download.

Tape - Three-Panel J-Card, Royal Blue Cassette Shell, Clear Case.