Today, we’re putting The Tonearm's needle on Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore.
Julianna is a composer, vocalist, and producer whose music is built almost entirely from layered, looped human voices. Mary is a harpist who has spent years pushing that instrument into a vast, exploratory realm.
In January 2025, the two flew to Paris just days after the LA wildfires tore through their community. There, they spent nine days recording with instruments pulled from a museum, including harps dating back to 1728 and vintage analog synthesizers. The result is Tragic Magic, out on InFiné, and it's one of the most talked-about records of the year so far.
Julianna and Mary just returned from Big Ears Festival and, in a few days, are heading back to Paris to perform these songs live with those same instruments. We caught them as they were preparing for the trip.
(The musical excerpts heard in the interview are from Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore's Tragic Magic)
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