performance :: julianna and liek as shadow
yesterday liek as shadow and julianna performed at glasslands gallery in williamsburg, brooklyn. glasslands gallery is a new effort by brooke baxter and rolyn hu, who previous ran the old glasshouse gallery around the corner; the new address is 289 kent ave (btw south 1st and south 2nd). i was totally impressed with the art space, a big improvement. same motive for glasslands: to promote local underground experimental music and art. a homey self expression bunker for underground types, no tight gap jeans required. more stage space, better sound system, less clutter, a proper seating section and refreshments area. it even has an upstairs booth, for those feeling the opera-box-look-down-on-the-crowd-people vibe. the entrance is still pretty conspicuous, follow the secret signs.
liek as shadow's set was mostly guitar driven this time, with atmospheres from fx pedals, falsettos, and a sampler. julianna's set again was totally new material, nothing recognizable from her sanguine cd. building vocal loops live, a warm and religious experience.
Labels: julianna barwick, performance
cd release :: julianna barwick
julianna barwick has self released her first album, sanguine. the cd is a collection of short loop based songs. lacking definable lyrics, the songs create their own themes sonically and leave nameless emotional impressions. julianna's talents as a vocalist push most of the musical strength in the album, her choice of melodic vocal overdubs with vocal percussion is fascinating and dizzying. some sounds become indecipherable as the human voice. comparable to bjork's medula approach to end instrumentation, most of the tracks are all vocal based. julianna's all vocal album has less of a political method behind it as does bjork's medula; it's based more on her natural approach to songwriting: spontaneously improving and recording immediately. many of the songs were written on the fly.
:: listen to dancing with friends
the vocal track layering lends to something stronger; carrying julianna's admitted affinity for the sounds of choir boys, the warmth of mum, and beauty of the human voice as found in panda bear's solo recordings. In a sense, many of the tracks take on a choir boy presence. but the lo fi quality recording and unstructured song loop presentation keep her in the realm of avant garde, rather just another pretty female voice. "unt. 6" grabs your attention immediately as a soundtrack moment. dark and mysterious. "unt. 3" is the most beautiful and angelic, conjuring memories of choir boys and cocteau twins watery pop.
:: listen to unt. 3
for a first release, sanguine serves as very promising start for julianna barwick. she effortlessly proves her strong melodic songwriting and vocal capabilities. the cd acts as a diving board in which she could easy mix her melodies into the dub or electronic world, creating layered atmospheric music on a larger scale, as hinted to in her collaboration with pandatone. for the moment, sanguine serves as an intimate group of melodies displayed through the minimal tools of a 4 track, a loop pedal, and a beautiful voice.
her cd release party will be next week with liek as a shadow opening: january 17th at glasslands gallery in brooklyn Labels: julianna barwick, release
liek as shadow's set was mostly guitar driven this time, with atmospheres from fx pedals, falsettos, and a sampler. julianna's set again was totally new material, nothing recognizable from her sanguine cd. building vocal loops live, a warm and religious experience.
review: oorutaichi single