Julianna Barwick, ‘Prizewinning’ from The Magic Place (2011)
Wallflower Tips For Living #177 (BEST OF 2011 MUSIX)
Felt like now would be a good time to begin going through some of my favorite albums/musical experiences of 2011. I’ve got about 8 or 9 albums that I really cemented some amazing and direly depressing experiences to this year. The first that comes to mind is Julianna Barwick’s The Magic Place. I’ve long been a favorite of the Asthmatic Kitty offerings that struck as off kilter (DM Stith, Shapes & Sizes) so when this was put on my radar I welcomed the ambient flood with open, weird arms. However…it wasn’t until a massive and horrendous breakup with a lover and friend that I truly fell in love with this album’s sweeping waves of feeeeeelings. Despite the album’s churchy tendencies here and there (Barwick’s father was a minister?) I somehow felt it appropriate to wallow in my sins and despair to this album. So there I was heartbroken, depressed, and forlorn with only this album on repeat for 48 hours strewn on a couch in Norman, Oklahoma. (An impressive feat I feel, given that The Magic Place’s run time is something like 44 minutes that translates to roughly 65 and 3/4s listens)
ANYWAY, so yes this is definitely on my favorites of 2011 list despite the fact (or BECAUSE of the fact) that its cathartic washes of ethereal sound are somehow the counterclockwise turns needed to open the floodgates of mah emotions.
Tune in next time for my review of TuNe-YaRdS WHO KILL
