Two giants of ambient music—the queen of vocal loops Julianna Barwick and the wizard of the harp Mary Lattimore—join forces on the album “Tragic Magic” (InFiné). This collection, born from the deep friendship between the two women, is an extraordinarily generous work: it makes every tree you look at greener and every step you take more directionless.
Far from the Rush to Keep Up: The album’s greatest promise is its quiet resistance to the relentless speed of the modern world: “You can exist without the hurry to catch up.” When Barwick’s spiritual vocal layers merge with Lattimore’s effect-enriched harp timbres, the thousand foxes in our minds fall asleep and a cosmic fairy tale emerges that lightens the weight of existence.
Friendship and Discipline: Julianna Barwick’s “loop” technique—filtered through the Louisiana choral tradition—and Mary Lattimore’s sonic landscapes created with her Lyon & Healy harp form a true alchemy on this record. The stunning cover artwork by Cat Solen perfectly encapsulates the colorful, hazy world inside the music. The album doesn’t feel like two musicians simply coming together; it feels like two entirely different universes melting into one another.
Istanbul Echoes: The magic created by this duo is not at all unfamiliar to us. Mary Lattimore and Julianna Barwick have each, at different times, enchanted Istanbul audiences from the stage of Salon İKSV. The feeling of “time standing still” they left in that venue now finds a permanent home in our ears through “Tragic Magic.”
Apartment No:26 Note:
Julianna Barwick layers her voice like an instrument, carrying cathedral acoustics into our bedrooms; Mary Lattimore removes the harp from its classical context and carries it into a futuristic dimension.
The album functions almost like an “emotional detox” session; it is a bedside masterpiece especially for those seeking a “cosmic listening” experience.
If you love the meditative moments of Sigur Rós or the hazy atmospheres of Grouper, this duo will become your new sanctuary.
Discover Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore on Instagram:
