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Julianna Barwick: Rosabi

Rosabi is of a piece with Barwick's other recordings but continues to push the limits, making this four-song release far more ambitious and generous than it seems on its face.
Julianna Barwick
Rosabi EP
Dead Oceans

Julianna Barwick’s music is as much about the space it is created in as the sound that it makes. So it’s no surprise that Rosabi, the EP that coincides with a beer Dogfish Head brewery made in collaboration with Barwick, contains distant elements of the brewery itself. You’re unlikely to really notice the clatter of the room or the process of making beer, but it’s just one more way Barwick has subtly, even subconsciously, embedded parts to make her astral sounds still feel grounded. The layered vocals are as striking as they’ve ever been, whether it is in the tense pulsing of “Meet You At Midnight”, the haunting stillness of “New Moon”, or the soft strength of brilliantly quiet closer “Blood Brothers”. Rosabi is of a piece with Barwick’s other recordings but continues to push the limits, making this four-song release far more ambitious and generous than it seems on its face. Oh, and the beer is delicious too.

RATING 7 / 10