The Magic Place
- Julianna Barwick
- Band Name: Julianna Barwick
- Record Label: Asthmatic Kitty
- Release Date: Feb 22, 2011
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Feb 23, 201170Non-vocal tones do occasionally pop up here, most notably some well-placed piano lines, but Barwick's voice is undeniably the focus here, in all its evocative, otherworldly glory.
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Jun 15, 201180Try as you might to explain Julianna Barwick's incomparable, indescribable music, maybe it's best to let The Magic Place do all the talking, because the results speak for themselves.
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Feb 23, 201185The Magic Place, her first album for Asthmatic Kitty, stands above her earlier work in virtually every way.
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Mar 29, 201180The sense of naive wonder evident recalls the bewitching power of Sigur Ros. [Apr 2011, p.75]
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May 18, 201180The Magic Place is her most fully involved album, suffused with the warmth of fond memories and a deep, dream-like resonance. [Jun 2011, p.96]
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Mar 9, 201170There's a warmness and craft there that envelops most cynicism. [Feb. 2011, p. 62]
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Mar 14, 201180My only qualm with The Magic Place is with its song structure. Each of the nine songs starts sparsely, weaves into an intricate texture, bulges with layered loops and then tails off.
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Mar 14, 201190Julianna Barwick is crafting gorgeously effecting sounds in a way that nobody has quite heard before, far beyond the snickering Enya comparisons or the reductive ties to Eno's ambience, this isn't music for thinking or studying, this is just music for living.
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Mar 7, 201170Compared to her two previous releases, Barwick's songs on The Magic Place are much longer and more layered, with a greater diversity of textures and instrumentation.
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Feb 18, 201160In the end, The Magic Place is a beautiful, ambiguous diversion better suited as a companion soundtrack to some experimental film or art installation than as the debut for a promising young singer.
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Mar 4, 201180The Magic Place, splendidly, isolates the listener, cuts them off from the world around them.
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Feb 28, 201182It makes for a remarkable debut full-length-just don't expect to see any of it scoring some slow-motion spinning or pastel unicorns when those Pure Moods commercials make their inevitable comeback.
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Feb 25, 201180It's filled with memorable moments, digital pieces that are essential towards captivating very human moments without battering with the greater scope of things. It all makes this all-encompassing memory trip worth remembering.
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Feb 25, 201180The one-woman choir may seem eccentric, but by the last of these nine vignettes, Barwick has accomplished what few purveyors of such pristine beauty can. Through its oddities, The Magic Place shines.
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Feb 24, 201180It's Barwick's most evocative instrument, one that sparkly piano notes can only help fill the room for, and one with which she diminishes too many comparisons to Panda Bear and other leftfield pop musicians.
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May 20, 201187Is she singing lyrics? Hard to say. But these songs are unquestionably emotive, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were actually prayers.
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Feb 22, 201180The Magic Place, Barwick's first release on Asthmatic Kitty (after two self-released albums), trails a dreamlike reverie across its 45 minutes.
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Mar 8, 201170Though her lyrics are incoherent, Barwick tells a story on this album that is up for interpretation depending on the listener as if Barwick created the music just for her.