The Magic Place

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 00:43:44
Julianna Barwick put out the album Sanguine and the EP Florine on her own before unveiling The Magic Place, but since the latter is released through the Asthmatic Kitty label, it's likely to expose Barwick's bewitching sound to a lot more people. The young Louisiana-bred, Brooklyn-based (where else?) artist's unusual approach to music subtly tweaks the usual categories -- is she a vocal ambient artist, a wordless singer/songwriter, or perhaps an a cappella folktronica performer? The answer, naturally, is all and none of the above. Whatever you call the ethereal sounds emanating from The Magic Place, they're made almost entirely from overdubbed layers of Barwick's soft, feathery vocals, though she abjures lyrics in favor of more non-specific sounds. The closest equivalent might be the Cocteau Twins with Liz Fraser's vocal track soloed, and multiplied a dozen times, or contemporary one-man band How to Dress Well minus the slow-jam R&B grooves. Barwick says that the album's title refers to a fondly remembered tree from her childhood, and that her modus operandi is partly inspired by singing in church in her youth. The further into The Magic Place you venture, the more sense both of those facts start to make; this is the stuff of half-remembered childhood dreams whose hazy details melt into a sweet, achingly nostalgic sort of sonic frieze, and it's the kind of thing that seems like it would be right at home resounding off the walls of some sun-speckled chapel. Non-vocal tones do occasionally pop up here, most notably some well-placed piano lines, but Barwick's voice is undeniably the focus here, in all its evocative, otherworldly glory. ~ J. Allen
録音 : ステレオ (Studio)