- In recent years, the likes of Laurel Halo, Julia Holter, Motion Sickness Of Time Travel and Grouper have used amorphous sound designs and the sheer timbre of their voice to forge a kind of dizzying, hymnal ambient music. Also among those artists is Julianna Barwick, whose sparse choral music sounds earthier than the others', with an almost religious sense of presence and contemplation. Songs resound with their echo and uncluttered compositions, Barwick's voice ringing out until it's impossible to understand except as a symbolic, lyrical language.
Barwick's third album, Will, makes minor changes to her approach, like the addition of synthesizer. In the past, her orchestrations were plain. 2011's The Magic Place was mainly her voice amidst piano; in 2013, Nepenthe was more elaborate, with contributions from producer Alex Somers, members of múm and string quartet Amiina. On the self-produced Will, there's an extraordinary confidence behind Barwick's voice and arrangements. Album highlight "Same" is a case in point: its Vangelis-esque synth melody gives Barwick and collaborator Thomas Arsenault space to weave and hover around the modest backdrop. The starkness makes every syllable stand out. "Nebula"'s submerged synth-bed is quieter and more ethereal, and Barwick's singing seems to come from distant aquatic depths.
Barwick finds a number of ways to use her voice, which has never seemed more apparent than on Will. "Wist" stitches together loops, bouncing multi-tracked vocals off countless surfaces until they sound like echoes cascading through a canyon. "Big Hollow" sets Barwick's bare voice against sparse synth and piano, nearly echoing Enya, which "Heading Home" mimics with reverb, piano and strings. Closing Will with noisy synths and live drums, "See, Know" is a joyous celebration amongst Barwick's simple graces.
Tracklist01. St. Apolonia
02. Nebula
03. Beached
04. Same
05. Wist
06. Big Hollow
07. Heading Home
08. Someway
09. See, Know