2012 Decibel Festival

For our second OPTICAL showcase, we'll be presenting four incredibly talented artists, all known for manipulating traditional musical instruments (voice, guitars, synths) in very unconventional ways to create ethereal music, to the point in which abstraction meets physical dynamics.

For the past couple years, Brooklyn-resident Julianna Barwick has been at the forefront of hazy pop music. Lacking definable lyrics, Julianna’s songs create their own themes sonically and leave nameless emotional impressions. Julianna’s talents as a vocalist push most of the musical strength in her works, her choice of melodic live vocal looping with vocal percussion is fascinating and dizzying. Described by Pitchfork Media as “as a digital update on sacred hymns”, Julianna's voice is both timeless and transcendental.

For her Decibel debut, Julianna Barwick will be collaborating with visual artist Christina Vantzou (of The Dead Texan).

Estonian chanteuse Maria Minerva is a psychedelic, avant-pop and lo-fi music producer and artist currently based in London. Her music expresses the alienated restlessness of modern women who inhabit a wi-fi world that combines connectivity and isolation. Her works have been praised by influential journalist Simon Reynolds, who wrote of her music 's “high breathy voice in reverb, adding blurriness to the deliberately “smudgy” production.”

Anenon is the brainchild of Brian Simon, an up-and-coming American producer from Los Angeles. Brian carves out highly textured sounds that are extremely personal, patient and thoughtful – music to live inside of, always revealing new paths with each listen.

Opening the showcase are Lulacruza, an an electronic folk duo at the junction of the hypermodern and the ancient. Their music weaves together hypnotic female singing, South American instruments, found sound objects, field recordings, and electronic manipulation.

PLEASE NOTE: This event ends around 9PM, offering festival attendees the opportunity to enjoy other festival showcases that will be going until 2AM.

For fans of Stars of the Lid, Dead Can Dance and Laurie Anderson.