Julianna Barwick
Thursday 25th August 2016
Tiny Leaves
At Komedia (Studio)
Doors 7:30 pm
Price £12 + booking fee / £14
Louisiana-bred, Brooklyn-based recording artist Julianna Barwick crafts ethereal, largely wordless soundscapes, all of which are built around multiple loops and layers of her angelic voice. She returns with her third full-length, Will. An electric current runs throughout the record, sharp and soft textures colliding to cathartic results. Will is a late afternoon thunderstorm – looming and restorative all at once.
Julianna Barwick, who credits a rural church choir upbringing for her unique sound, begins most tracks with a single phrase or refrain, then uses a loop station and the occasional piano or percussive instrument to build the song into a swirling mass of lush ambient folk.
She released her first two collections of songs, the full-length Sanguine and the EP Florine, in 2009 and 2010, respectively, before issuing her Asthmatic Kitty (Sufjan Stevens’ label) debut, Magic Place, in 2011. Barwick kept busy in the time between her proper albums with various collaborations and smaller releases. In addition to remixing a Radiohead track, she collaborated with Ikue Mori on an entirely improvised album, did guest appearances on various friends’ albums, and formed the duo Ombre with Helado Negro, releasing the collaborative album Believe You Me.
Barwick’s latest release, Will was conceived and self-produced over the past year in a variety of locations, Will is a travelogue of sorts – weaving together swaths of inspiration from a desolate house in upstate New York to the Moog Factory in Asheville, North Carolina to Lisbon, Portugal.
An electric current runs throughout the record, sharp and soft textures colliding to cathartic results. Will is a late afternoon thunderstorm – looming and restorative all at once. Featuring contributions from Thomas Arsenault (Mas Ysa), Dutch cellist Maarten Vos and percussionist, Jamie Ingalls (Chairlift, Tanlines, Beverly), Will is largely a product of ups and downs, a reflection of a life lived somewhere in between transience and standing still.
“To listen to the music of Julianna Barwick is to be swept away; to be transported someplace sacred. It’s the sound of yearning, searching and escape.” – NPR Music
“The consistent loveliness of [Barwick’s] approach remains, and both longtime fans and newcomers should be glad to know that’s also true of…Barwick’s upcoming, self-produced Will.” – Pitchfork
“Writing about just one Julianna Barwick track feels like reviewing only one star in the constellation.” –SPIN
Support comes from:
Tiny Leaves
Tiny Leaves is the moniker of Composer – Performer Joel Pike, currently finishing his third album, his music has a delicate cinematic quality that brings about a quiet hope. FutureSequence, Cooking Vinyl Publishing, Split Music & P*dis/Impartmaint Japan represent his music, which has been broadcast all over the world including on BBC6Music, Q2 (New York) and Rte Lyric FM (Ireland). The latest release and everything related can be found on http://www.tinyleaves.co.uk/ .
Praise for his music includes: “Stunning” – BBC 6Music – Lauren Laverne “so heart-felt, so open, so accomplished” – Fluid Radio “life affirming, a blessing” – acloserlisten