Nepenthe
A breathtaking tapestry of wordless vocal loops, glacial strings, and cathedral-scale reverb, recorded in Iceland to process grief and find hope.
July 20, 2013 · Dead Oceans
A breathtaking tapestry of wordless vocal loops, glacial strings, and cathedral-scale reverb, recorded in Iceland to process grief and find hope.
July 20, 2013 · Dead Oceans
Frost-rimed windowpanes and the low hum of a Reykjavik studio replace the bedroom-closet warmth of her earlier loops. By bringing in Icelandic strings and a co-producer, this record steps out of solitary confinement to let a heavy, collective grief breathe. You can feel the temperature drop as her signature wordless vocals layer into towering, icy cathedrals of sound, but there is a new, sharp clarity in the frost. It is the exact point where her private experiments became vast, communal monuments. The music no longer just comforts you in the dark; it carries you through a frozen, beautiful expanse toward the light.
How does Nepenthe sound next to the rest of Julianna Barwick's catalogue?
The music trades her usual bedroom warmth for a vast, glacial atmosphere of snowfall, evoking the cold, quiet stillness of a Reykjavik winter.
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