in brieflive

The Harp’s Quiet Slumber

Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore

The harp – one of the oldest string instruments – has always, to me, been closely tied to the floating threshold between sleep and wakefulness. Its quiet paving between night and day became even more palpable when Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore brought the ancient instrument to life at DR Concert Hall’s Studio 2. Lattimore’s harp playing and Barwick’s ethereal vocals inhabit a space somewhere between modern ambient and classical nocturne – like an anachronistic lullaby infused with synthesizers and drenched in reverb.

Most of the concert’s pieces were drawn from Barwick and Lattimore’s recent album Tragic Magic (2026), recorded over ten days in a basement beneath the Philharmonie de Paris, with free access to its collection of antique instruments. Both 1970s synthesizers and 18th-century harps are awakened on the album. And although Barwick noted with a smile that the old harp from 1740 unfortunately could not join them that evening, it was clear to feel the two American musicians’ passion for the span between the antique and the contemporary. This tension was most evident in their story about the first rainfall following the devastating wildfires in their hometown of Los Angeles. A field recording of that very rain introduced their subsequent cover of Vangelis’ »Rachel’s Dream« from the Blade Runner (1982) soundtrack, casting the all-consuming fires in a dark science fiction glow. Yet Barwick’s cinematic whistling and Lattimore’s harp arpeggios still found a glimmer of light within the dystopian darkness. Though both musicians have long-standing solo careers behind them, one can only hope this will not be the last we hear of their collaboration.

playlist

06.10

We are Late Runner – would you like to see our playlist?

»For us, music is... magic? Aside from the fact that we are huge fans of silence, the closing line of one of our upcoming singles perfectly captures our relationship with music:

'Music feels like magic to me / A superior art form in a marketplace / Trying to find an empty space'.

That is what it can feel like as a songwriter and performing musician. We try to hold onto an almost childlike infatuation with music, yet the art form we work in – alternative-leaning pop-rock – was created and has evolved 'in a marketplace' driven by powerful economic forces. As a romantic, that can sometimes be a bit disheartening...«

Late Runner consists of Asger Tarpgaard and Tanja Forsberg Simonsen, both formerly of the bands Superheroes and Private.

playlist

06.10

My name is Raphael Loher – would you like to see my playlist?

»I think music is just the way I perceive and process the world.«

Raphael Loher is a pianist and composer based in Lucerne, Switzerland who combines elements of experimental electronic music, ambient, and minimalist composition. His distinct, crystalline work explores playful reduction and rhythmic abstraction, aiming to create singular resonances and aesthetic connections. His meditative style of piano playing allows shimmering rhizomatic structures to emerge, giving rise to tense narrative arcs. Loher expands his sound spectrum by preparing the piano, using effect pedals, and working with a tape recorder.

Loher’s new album Figuren (Präsens Editionen) is an album shaped by intuition, experimentation, and a deliberate distance from his primary instrument — the piano. Reworking intimate concert recordings made during a residency, Loher deconstructed selected melodies, tones, and resonances into new forms, transforming them further through tape manipulation.

news

04.10

Björk takes over Polish marketplace today for secret festival finale

It was officially confirmed only recently that Icelandic avant-garde star Björk is visiting Bielsko-Biała today. After keeping it under wraps until the last moment, the organizers of the Wędrujący Festiwal (Wandering Festival) have revealed that Björk is the artist closing out the festival's grand finale.

playlist

03.10

My name is Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek – would you like to see my playlist?

»Recently, I discovered that when a couple of thousand people clap their thick gloves in minus 30 degrees, it sounds like the softest techno – a freezing space where the cold air turns into a wave of warmth, and we, in a moment of collective devotion, become one with the rhythm, one with the invisible bond that connects us in the warmth of silence. Music is not just sounds, but a vain attempt to capture the infinite, which has always been and always will be.«

Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek has been the editor-in-chief of Seismograf since 2021. He is also a music critic and cultural journalist at Kristeligt Dagblad and Århus Stiftstidende/Avisen Danmark and has over the years written to publications such as Kunsten.nu, Glissando (Poland), Neural (Italy), Raw Vision (UK), Nutida Musik (Sweden), Kunstkritikk (DK/Sweden), Iscene.dk, B.T., and Jazz Special. He is the author (together with Lars Muhl) of the book HVA' SAA! En guidet rutsjebanetur gennem Aarhus – før, nu og i fremtiden (2024) and has also contributed to the anthology on music criticism Man skal høre meget (ed. Thomas Michelsen and Claus Røllum-Larsen, 2024). He is a founder and partner in the Polish-Danish cultural organization Kultur(a), and wherever there is a piano, he will be there, eager to coax a melody from it.

playlist

02.10

My name is Aria Leth Schütze – would you like to see my playlist?

»For me, music is an opportunity for transformation.«

Aria Leth Schütze is based in Copenhagen and is the creative force behind the music projects Alto Aria and Samler På Dig. They are a co-founder of the record label Rhizome and a co-editor of the music magazine Passive/Aggressive. Their practice brings together electronic and acoustic music in an exploration of transformation.