A Daughter’s Journey Through Her Late Father’s Record Collection

In Wantlist

Songs From Liquid Days

Philip Glass

2020

Classical, Contemporary, Post-Modern

Vinyl, Album, Reissue

Shop Want

Usually, her reviews are positive, like with Friends.

Since the first video took off, momentum around Jula’s page has continued growing. At the time of writing, she has 279,000 followers, and her daily videos gain 7-2 thousand likes on average. More impressive, though, are the comments, which, along with , include a nod of approval from Questlove on her first video.

“My comment section is probably the nicest comment section I’ve seen from a content creator in a long time,” she said. “I’m drawing in so many people who really love the music. I’ll talk about a record, and then I sit there and read about how people connect with it. I get little facts about everything. It’s been so much fun. I feel like it’s as if my father was there telling me about when he listened to it.”

According to Jula, her father bought his first record when he was five with money from chores. He spent the rest of his life in love with the medium, dreaming of potentially becoming a disc jockey. He wrote playlist ideas for future mix CDs, enthusiastically debated with Jula’s mother over which songwriter was better between Leonard Cohen (he picked Simon, she preferred Cohen, as does Jula), and kept picking up records by the crateful. 

Growing up, he’d play Who’s Next?

In Wantlist

Who’s Next

The Who

1995

Rock

Vinyl, Reissue, Remastered, 180g

Shop Want

In his life, Jula’s father never managed to become a disc jockey, although he did briefly participate in local radio. Like most collectors, he worked his day job and filled his listening room in his spare time, purely out of love. Jula’s videos, in a way, are an extension of her father’s dream: chatting about the music he loved with anyone who would listen.

“I feel like this is what he was preparing to do his whole life,” said Jula.” I was even talking to some of his friends and they were like, ‘If your father was alive, he’d be probably doing what you’re doing right now.’”

The beginning seeds of the project were planted two years ago when Jula returned to her mother’s house and decided to alphabetize the collection. It was so large that it took Jula two weeks.
When alphabetizing the collection, Jula didn’t listen to any records. It felt too early. She wasn’t ready.

“I didn’t feel ready to delve into it that much or be in that space of thinking about him every day or miss him when I want to know what he thought or why he bought this album. But now, it’s the right time. And it’s now a beautiful experience that doesn’t feel sad. It just makes me feel a lot closer to him.”

Two years later, Jula moved back home. Once again faced with the collection, she started listening. Soon after, she thought about her dad’s dream of becoming a DJ. She doesn’t know exactly when the idea came to start the Instagram series, but it was gradual. 

“He loved sharing music. That was his whole life,” she said. “So, I was like, maybe I can do that for him with his records. I thought it would be small. I didn’t know how many people would resonate with the idea or his records so much.”

After creating the Instagram page, she found that many of her followers who have experienced loss feel similar. Her videos have helped several people dig into collections of lost loved ones, honoring them in the process. 

“Twenty-five percent of my DMs will be [someone saying], ‘Somebody also ed away in my family. I also have a collection of records or CDs or cassettes. I was too scared to listen to them, but now, seeing what you’re doing, it’s inspired me to listen,’” said Jula. “So it’s been nice to inspire people or even just talk to people about that. And I’m just so grateful.”

While one of the initial aims of the project, as stated in her continued opening line, is to connect with her late father, she always wanted to build a community. Now, that community is paramount for the continuation of the project. There are thousands and thousands of records left, and she has no plans of stopping, at least not while there are still people watching and listening along.

“For all of the people commenting on my videos who are reaching out to me, this has been what I wanted to get out of this. I’m just grateful to continue having a musical dialogue with people. I’m not listening alone. That’s everything.”