Florine [EP] - Julianna Barwick
Metascore
83 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 6 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. Florine feels bracingly intimate and original, in its hieroglyphic way.
  2. Barwick's angelic voice channels whale song, her textless mantras capture a serene ambience, and her ear for arrangement are far beyond her years. Most impressive, though, is Barwick's relentless inventiveness: Florine is unlike anything you will hear this year.
  3. Dizzying and beautiful at once, it is unlike anything else from 2009.
  4. As amazing as Florine is, an entire LP or even another EP of exactly the same thing would probably become tiresome. The fact that she has carved out a rather unique niche is a rare feat, but expanding her sound will only make her more formidable.
  5. Aficionados of ambient music might moan over Florine's sometimes frustrating lack of low end, but for those with an open mind, a long drive, and/or a large joint, Barwick provides one of this winter's prettiest half-hours.
  6. It's music that, outside of a live setting where one has the benefit of watching her assemble her loops, calls for patience, and it's difficult to anticipate under what circumstances her techniques could lend themselves to something either more ambitious or longer in form or structure.
User Score
tbd

No user score yet- Awaiting 3 more ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Before the release of her beautiful and unearthly The Magic Place, Julianna Barwick amazed the world with her second EP titled Florine. It’s really hard to describe Julianna’s ambient music without using cheap metaphors but, hey, Florine transports you to another dimension composed almost only of the looped and processed voice of the ethereal singer. Cloudbank sounds like a New Age lament and is deeply melancholic. Choose, on the other hand, is joyful and invites to a journey into unknown. Anjos shows harmony between Julianna’s voice and the accompanying piano. Even though Florine is based on repetition, there is never a feeling of fatigue as the album bursts with brilliance. Full Review »