#5163, Atmospheric Voices
Hear music from English avant-folk artist Alison Cotton, Hawaiian trombonist and producer Kalia Vandever, Finnish composer Meriheini Luoto, and composer, vocalist, and producer Julianna Barwick.
There’s new music from north-east England born, London-based artist Alison Cotton who layers her viola, harmonium, and vocals over drone passages and piano, percussion, and synths on her latest album, The Gods Laugh. Hear several selections from the record, including her setting of Victorian rural poet John Clare’s I Am!, which, she says, has “such a haunting, melodic, almost hymn-like feel” and a “feeling of isolation in the words”, (Bandcamp).
Also, sample new work by trombonist and composer Kalia Vandever and their 2026 album, Mana, which in Hawaiian means “foundational, supernatural, or divine power and strength.” Emboldened by the new audiences they encountered on a tour opening for folksinger Haley Heynderickx, they began to get braver about sharing a number of more intimate, lyric-centered pieces. Listen to “Waiting”, for trombone, piano, and voice, which “feels like the music I’ve been wanting to make for a long time, but needed time to discover what I wanted to say." (Bandcamp.)
Then, it’s music by composer, vocalist, producer, and collaborator Julianna Barwick, from her record, Nepenthe, which features countless fragments of her voice electronically layered to create what might sound like choral music. Plus, listen to some of Finnish violinist & composer Meriheini Luoto’s 10-part composition and album, Talven uneen vaipuen (Falling Into Winter’s Sleep). Created for the strings, winds, voice, and percussion of four Finnish ensembles: Awake Percussion, Luoto luonnos, Saxtronauts & Signe, a listener can travel through a sonic landscape where “frost embraces, winds whisper, and ice sheets creak,” (https://www.meriheiniluoto.com). - Caryn Havlik
Program #5163, Atmospheric Voices (First aired 7/16/26)
ARTIST: Julianna Barwick
WORK: Labyrinthine [1:26]
RECORDING: Nepenthe
SOURCE: Dead Oceans
INFO: juliannabarwick.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Alison Cotton
WORK: What Were Those Words You Spoke to Me [6:29]
RECORDING: The Gods Laugh
SOURCE: tak:til / Glitterbeat
INFO: https://alisoncotton-uk.bandcamp.com/album/the-gods-laugh
ARTIST: Awake Percussion, Luoto luonnos, Saxtronauts & Signe
WORK: Hitaasti haukotellen [4:44]
RECORDING: Meriheini Luoto: Talven uneen vaipuen
SOURCE: LUO
INFO: https://meriheiniluoto.bandcamp.com/album/talven-uneen-vaipuen
ARTIST: Kalia Vandever
WORK: Waiting [6:33]
RECORDING: Mana
SOURCE: International Anthem
INFO: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/mana
ARTIST: Alison Cotton
WORK: I am! [6:51]
RECORDING: The Gods Laugh
SOURCE: tak:til / Glitterbeat
INFO: https://alisoncotton-uk.bandcamp.com/album/the-gods-laugh
ARTIST: Julianna Barwick
WORK: Labyrinthine [4:27]
RECORDING: Nepenthe
SOURCE: Dead Oceans
INFO: juliannabarwick.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Alison Cotton
WORK: The Gods Laugh at Those Who Make Plans [6:31]
RECORDING: The Gods Laugh
SOURCE: tak:til / Glitterbeat
INFO: https://alisoncotton-uk.bandcamp.com/album/the-gods-laugh
ARTIST: Joseph Branciforte & Theo Bleckmann
WORK: 11.15 [10:12]
RECORDING: LP 2
SOURCE: greyfade
INFO: https://josephbranciforte.bandcamp.com/album/lp2
