Julianna Barwick w/ Vasilius
Danforth Chapel — Wednesday, April 9 at 7 p.m. ($10-$14, All Ages)
Last year — like every year for the last four — I worked as a producer during the Mission Creek Festival (Full disclosure: I worked Mission Creek Festival this year). This gives me the opportunity to check out as many bands as possible. One of the major experimentalists that was brought in last year was William Basinski, who is best known for The Disintegration Loops. While I remember what he looked like — long white hair, leather blazer — I can’t really remember what he sounded like.
The thing that I remember from the show (and which stuck with me long after the festival) was Julianna Barwick. A solo artist living in Brooklyn, Barwick also makes experimental music, but it stands out from the genre in a particular way. Experimental music has a tendency towards being cold and distant, intriguing the mind but not necessarily the heart. Julianna Barwick touches the mind and the heart, and this comes through in the way that she makes her music.
Her instrument is her voice. She creates loops and builds various textures that can make a large, cavernous space seem small and intimate. This ability to condense a space and bring the audience close to her makes the choice to put her in Danforth Chapel an inspired one. The small chapel that sits in front of the Iowa Memorial Union will allow everyone to get up close and personal. As well, the space will give her ambient soundscapes space to grow and move, which will be an experience to behold.
Ticket information for this Scope Productions event is available here.
