Healing Is A Miracle (LP)

Louisiana-raised Julianna Barwick is a composer, vocalist and producer who makes deep, reflective compositions out of the human voice. Her fourth album, Healing Is a Miracle, is a distinctive meditation on sound, reverb and the voice - built on improvisation and a close affinity to a couple of trusted items of gear, from which she spins engrossing, expansive universes out of a single idea.

As always, the sound of Barwick's voice is the record's anchor. It's her layering and modulating of it that creates the distinctive, all-enveloping atmosphere she's become renowned for.

Recorded in the wake of a seismic shift in her life following a move from New York - where she had lived for 16 years - to Los Angeles where she is now based, Healing Is a Miracle is both a product of her new surroundings and also the result of a small but significant switch-up to her recording process: the addition of some studio monitors - a birthday gift from Jónsi and producer Alex Somers - having previously recorded all of her music on headphones. "The first song I remember making with those was the first song on the album, Inspirit." she explains, "When I added the bass I really felt it in my body, you know, in a way you just wouldn't with headphones… it was kind of euphoric and fun. I got really excited about making the record in that moment, and I think that really had an impact on the sounds I ended up making."

She also enlisted the talents of what she describes as three "dream collaborators" with whom she has nurtured deep friendships with over the years: Jónsi (Sigur Rós), harpist Mary Lattimore and Nosaj Thing - the highly respected electronic producer and stalwart of the LA scene who has worked with the likes of Kendrick Lamar; who all assimilate superbly into the flow of Healing Is a Miracle, at once folding seamlessly into Barwick's sonics and imbuing them with their own unique twists. The blend of Barwick's reveries and harp from Mary Lattimore was always going to be a winning combination. The other two contributors both bring gentle rhythmic thrust - Jónsi helps to turn In Light into a thousand-yard ballad while gently knocking drums from Nosaj Thing underpin closer Nod.

Healing Is a Miracle presents another distinct chapter for Julianna Barwick, distilling new elements into her carefully crafted sound, the result of her own ever-evolving process and her considered use of collaborations.