Julia Wolf is naturally a 10 girl. The New York City-based artist has been steadily building a devoted cult following with her gothic indie-rock sound, epic vocal tone, and unabashed obsession with Twilight. She gets it. As the singer releases her second solo single of the year, “Lamb,” featuring Sleeping With Sirens’ Kellin Quinn, our Music Editor caught up with her following a packed run of festival appearances, including Lollapalooza and Reading & Leeds:

I'm so excited to talk to you. I know we need to talk about Lamb, but I just need to start this off by saying I think I have streamed Deep End this year maybe 5,000 times. I'm also a fellow Twilight stan.

Oh my goodness, that makes me so happy. Thank you. I'm so glad.

I love Lamb. I especially love that first lyric. It's such a great metaphor of putting your hand through the fence. Let's talk about that song and when you wrote it, and what was inspiring it.

So I wrote that back in January. I was in Nashville at the time, and I had these lyrics prepared, and I was doing just a bunch of sessions with people. It was really my first time in Nashville. I had written it with another writer, Steph Jones. There was a producer there, he was just strumming, just over guitar at first. It was all acoustic. I had those lyrics for a long time about, 'I didn't mean to be picked for the slaughter, but a lamb is a lamb'. I feel like I have the same mindset and approach to relationships that I did as a teenager. I just feel like I was born this way, and I think a lot of it is inherited from my mom and seeing how she deals with things. That's why a lamb is a lamb. I just can't seem to break this cycle that I feel like I've been born into. It always stems from real-life experiences, so I just wrote that song. Steph is just also an amazing writer and she helped me just talk through what it was that I wanted to express, and that's kinda how we got there. And then of course, the Kellin Quinn of it all came later.

So when you're writing, is environment important to you? Depending on where you are in the world, do you think that comes through in your writing and sound?

100%, and that's why I probably won't be doing random sessions again. I gave it a shot, but nothing beats your own bedroom and the comfort of your home. I will say we did record the song officially in Portland, and that aesthetic was perfect. It's very Twilight. The rain, the trees. So I loved it for that, but forwriting I'm probably just going to stick to my house.

Do you feel like you're going to get sick of talking about Twilight?

No. Unfortunately not. I tell people that was my first real love. That was genuinely the first time I felt real feelings. This insane obsession that took over my life. That's why I just can't get sick of it. It's so embedded in me. It was so impactful and left just a huge impression on me. I can't get over it.

Tell me about the Kellin Quinn collaboration. Obviously very cool, but how did that happen and why was Kellin Quinn right for this song?

So I've just been on a crazy Kellin Quinn kick for the past year. I cannot stop listening to Sleeping With Sirens, and I was just trying to, I don't know, put it into my bloodstream. I just wanted to embody that.

And then we were in Portland, and I found out that he lives in this tiny town called Medford in Oregon. I was just like, "Oh, should I just shoot my shot and see?" I was there in the vicinity, and they just said yes. He took a flight, which was, like, I think hopefully only an hour for him.

But still, getting on a plane is just crazy to come and do that. And he came, and I showed him the song. He went away in just a corner of this... We were in a beautiful, kind of church-esque recording studio. It was very cozy, carpets all over, layered. It was really nice.

And he just went over there and wrote it, and he was like, "What do you think of this?" And I said, "Just get rid of the last line because it's too positive, and then we're good." He just started cutting the vocals, and he sounds exactly like he does on the records. It's ridiculous. So cool. And that was it.

That's amazing. That's such a big deal for you.

No, I know. The fact that he said yes, and just these guys are very welcoming of me in their world is so cool.

Tell me about the visual.  I think it's perfect.

I try to start a new era, hence the deep end and this kind of sonically lighter tone. Then a part of me is just, "Oh my gosh, I have to go back. I can't abandon my roots." But the visual is so incredible. David  originally did a video for Scro, who produced the song, and Scro has his own artist project. When I saw it I was like, "Oh, that guy is so cool. This just looks really sick." So we reached out, and he was so excited at the idea of working together. I guess he was fond of my other tunes, and he was super down. So we got the first cut of it back, and absolutely no notes. He put so many Easter eggs in there, and little shout-outs to other songs of mine. You could tell he really cares so much. Genuinely, we didn't give him any notes, which I've never done that in my life. I'm a very picky woman, but he nailed it on the first try.

I feel like the process of this song has all come together quite cosmically.

I know. It is really nice, because that does not always happen.

So you've played some festivals and everything that's going on in your life. What have you been listening to? Are there any rising artists you're excited about, or anyone that you wanna shout out?

There's a band called After. Have you heard of After?

Yes we spoke to After a few days ago. I love them.

They're good. I saw them at Reading and Leeds. They were incredible. I love them, and shout out Jim Legacy. We've been listening to a lot of Jim Legacy. I'm a big Jane Remover fan, of course. And then the rest... obviously I'm just listening to Phoebe Bridgers' new album right now. It's on repeat. Just soaking in this new chapter of Phoebe. Oh, and you know who else? I Promise The World. They are so sick.

I think you've got such a cool vocal tone. Have there been not just songwriters, but vocalists that have been north stars for you?

That's such a good question. I feel like I get a lot of inspiration from Third Eye Blind's Stephan Jenkins. I think he's so emotional while even just staying on the same note, which I think is so impressive because I don't consider myself a big belter. I love when I hear these people who also aren't the craziest of singers, but they are giving so much and conveying so much, even on just a single note. So he's a big one for me. And Phoebe too, especially on this new album. She's just so free and not scared of sounding like she's smiling during a take or laughing or just being herself in a way that you just cannot replicate at all. There's a little bit of that messiness even in a band like Pinegrove. I just really like artists that are very just vocally free.

What's next? I don't know what you're allowed to tell me.

So, of course, we have so much touring coming up. That'll be, like, my first time with stage production and lighting even. So I'm really looking forward to that. It's, of course, going to be giving Twilight on stage as much as I can do without them yelling at me. And then new music as soon as I have a second, which hopefully will be after this tour, as long as I don't say yes to anything else and I just set aside that time, there absolutely will be an album. We have some pretty crazy shows lined up, which those I can't say, so I would love to have a new album.

Are you going to come to Australia?

I need to. Let's make that happen. Australia is the only place that I have ever been in a touring setting where I didn't wanna go home.‍ usually I'm like, "Oh, I miss home. I miss home." I wanted to stay. It was so beautiful. Melbourne has my heart.

Listen to Julia Wolf HERE.

@juliawolfnyc