If you were to define a sub-genre for Julianna Barwick's ambient music, it might be something like "polar pastoralism," as the young singer and composer evokes both the Southern straw-dust farmland of her youth and the glacial fields that surrounded the recording of her latest album.
For Nepenthe, producer Alex Somers (Jónsi, Sin Fang, Pascal Pinon) lured Barwick to Iceland to write, record and ultimately create a new dynamic in her synthesis of sound and space. The resulting album ought to make you drop your sorrows and concerns as you're transported to a serene wonderland.
Watch Julianna Barwick's entire session on KEXP's YouTube channel.
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