Julianna Barwick – ‘One Half’
Like a holy sound wave born in the base of a Tibetan singing bowl, ‘One Half’ by Julianna Barwick comes floating into the Far Out Track of the Day music library in all the majesty, peace and grace of our setting sun.
Taken from Barwick’s latest 2013 album release, Nepenthe, meaning medicine for sorrow in Greek literature, ‘One Half’ is a divine record that harbours the transcendental beauty of Brian Eno’s ambient masterpiece ‘An Ending (Ascent)’ and Ralph Vaughen Williams soul caressing classical composition ‘Lark Ascending’, a feat that only a handful of contemporary artists may surely achieve?
Raised in rural Louisiana before living on a farm in Missouri, Barwick was a preacher’s daughter and knowing that sheds new light on the track, it adds this spiritual quality amidst the glorious concoction of layered harmonies, classical strings and delicate lyric ‘One Half’ alludes to the American singer-songwriter knowing or understanding something about life that many of us struggle to fathom.
Deciphering the cosmic codes of love, death and all in-between before translating the results into musical arithmetic, we can all understand, to a certain extent.
This is one of those tracks that has the potential to alter the course of your life as on the contemplative and reflective platform, it provides dreams become charged, epiphanies ignited, and blues buried all in a matter of minutes and, approaching the New Year, ‘One Half’ becomes more than a mere song, it turns special.
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