Julianna Barwick

Julianna Barwick’s lush, expansive compositions take cues from the church choirs she sang in while growing up and the wild world of experimental music. Barwick spent her childhood in Missouri, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, and she'd always been intrigued by the power of her voice. In 2001 she moved to New York and began writing songs; a few years later, she learned how to process her voice using a loop pedal, a technique that opened up her music. Barwick self-released the album Sanguine in 2006 and followed that up in 2009 with the Florine EP; both those records offer glimpses of the early stages of her aesthetic, with layered, reverb-heavy vocals turning into sonic fortresses. The Magic Place, which came out in 2011, was Barwick’s breakthrough record, combining the gentle vibes of new-age music with her innovative approach to presenting her wordless vocals. In 2014 she released Nepenthe, which she recorded with longtime Sigur Rós producer Alex Somers; Will, which followed in 2016, revealed a dark side to her sweeping work. Barwick moved to Los Angeles in 2017, and in 2020 she released Healing Is a Miracle, on which she brought in collaborators like harpist Mary Lattimore and adventurous producer Nosaj Thing to build out and fortify her sound.