‘Will’ is the third, full-length album by Brooklyn-based experimental
artist Julianna Barwick.
Conceived and self-produced over the past year in a variety of locations, this
compelling new
work is a departure from 2013’s Alex Somers-produced, Nepenthe.
If that last record conjured images of gentle, thick fog rolling over
desolate mountains, then
‘Will’ is a late afternoon thunderstorm, a cathartic collision of sharp and
soft textures that
sounds looming and restorative all at once.
The material was recorded between a house in upstate New York, Asheville,
NC's Moog
Factory, and in Lisbon, Portugal, and features a number of guest artists
including Thomas
Arsenault (aka Mas Ysa), the Dutch cellist Maarten Vos, and percussionist Jamie
Ingalls
(Chairlift, Tanlines).
On hearing Julianna for the first time, one might be reminded of Queen of the
New Age Enya,
but further listening reveals that her techniques are in line with artists like
Björk and Panda
Bear.