Listen to works for voices and keyboards in an ambient vein from American composer Julianna Barwick, Chicago-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Macie Stewart, and musician, visual artist, and producer Brian Eno.
Julianna Barwick is a composer, vocalist and producer who plays with sound, reverb and the voice, now working in Los Angeles. On her recent release Healing Is A Miracle, she got to thinking about the miraculous ways that the body heals itself and set about improvising vocal loops. Listen to some of that music, made using a different recording set-up with a gift of studio monitors from Jónsi and Alex —she had previously recorded all of her music on headphones. Hear the fist song she had made with the new tools, “Inspirit”, (Julianna Barwick’s Bandcamp liner notes). Also, there’s ethereal work for voice and electronics from the aforementioned Jonsi, who is the singer for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, and musician/artist/producer Alex Somers, who collaborate as Jónsi and Alex – it’s a work about the last castrato singer, “Boy 1904”.
Hear the latest from Chicago multi-instrumentalist, collaborator, and improviser Macie Stewart. It’s from her 2025 album – an 8-piece song cycle, When the Distance is Blue, and a return for her to piano, her first instrument. She describes the collages of prepared piano, field recordings, and string quartet compositions, as “a love letter to the moments we spend in-between”. Listen to a piece called “Stairwell (Before and After)”, which uses the prepared piano and wordless vocals, along with electronic processing. Plus, hear ambient pioneer Brian Eno’s seminal “Music for Airports”, which also uses voices and keyboards. And more. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4992, Ambient Works For Voice and Keyboard (First aired 3/26/2025)
ARTIST: Brian Eno
WORK: Music for Airports 1-2 [1:10]
RECORDING: Ambient 1: Music for Airports
SOURCE: EMI / EEG 17
INFO: Available at Amazon.com, AppleMusic, Spotify, YouTube
ARTIST: Macie Stewart
WORK: Stairwell (Before and After) [6:52]
RECORDING: When the Distance is Blue
SOURCE: International Anthem
INFO: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/when-the-distance-is-blue
ARTIST: Julianna Barwick
WORK: Envelop [5:40]
RECORDING: The Magic Place
SOURCE: Asthmatic Kitty Records
INFO: https://juliannabarwick.bandcamp.com/album/the-magic-place-2024-remaster
ARTIST: Jónsi & Alex
WORK: Boy 1904 [5:03]
RECORDING: Riceboy Sleeps
SOURCE: XL Recordings
INFO: https://ffm.to/ja_rbs2019.oem
ARTIST: Moby
WORK: A Seated Night [3:23]
RECORDING: Wait for Me
SOURCE: Little Idiot/Mute
INFO: Available at Amazon.com, AppleMusic, Spotify, YouTube
ARTIST: Julianna Barwick
WORK: Inspirit [4:12]
RECORDING: Healing is a Miracle
SOURCE: Ninja Tune
INFO: https://julianna.lnk.to/healingYo
ARTIST: Odland + Auinger
WORK: Kyrie [5:52]
RECORDING: Requiem for Fossil Fuels
SOURCE: Not commercially recorded
INFO: http://www.o-a.info/rfffny/info.html
ARTIST: Brian Eno
WORK: Music for Airports 1-2 [11:28]
RECORDING: Ambient 1: Music for Airports
SOURCE: EMI / EEG 17
INFO: Available at Amazon.com, AppleMusic, Spotify, YouTube
ARTIST: Joseph Branciforte & Theo Bleckmann
WORK: 3.4.26 [2:01]
RECORDING: LP 1
SOURCE: greyfade
INFO: https://josephbrancifortetheobleckmann.bandcamp.com/album/lp1