Free will: Julianna Barwick comes to Portsmouth

Music
The musician’s spontaneous style shines on her new album

It may have taken Julianna Barwick close to a year to complete her newest record “Will,” but writing and recording the songs, she said, happened spontaneously. All she needed was a moment of inspiration to strike.

“(The record) is all very in the moment. Nothing was planned out,” Barwick said. “It’s improvised, and once I record, I’ll listen to it afterwards and figure out how I want to spice (the songs) up and layer things over it.”

Since her previous album, “Nepenthe,” came out in 2013, Barwick has maintained an impressive schedule. She’s played piano for Yoko Ono, performed at Carnegie Hall at the annual Tibet House concert with the Flaming Lips and Phillip Glass, and even had a beer called “Rosabi,” an IPA made with wasabi, one of Barwick’s favorite foods, created in her honor by Delaware’s Dogfish Head Brewery. She’s touring in support of “Will,” which will be released on May 6, and her next stop is Portsmouth, where she’ll appear at 3S Artspace on Saturday, April 30.

Barwick's new album, "Will."

Barwick’s new album, Will.

Barwick eschews typical pop structures and catchy hooks for an ambient sound that focuses on texture and melody. She uses a synthesizer; her own voice becomes like a religious chant. And with the exception of a few collaborators —like Mas Ysa’s Thomas Arsenault on vocals, Dutch cellist Maarten Vos, and percussionist Jamie Ingalls — Barwick recorded everything herself. In keeping with her emphasis on spontaneity, she let the guest musicians perform however they wanted.

Though Barwick’s voice is its own instrument, she said her lyrics are more of an afterthought. “Rarely do I have words, and if I do, I keep them pretty buried,” she said. “I come up with the melody and then put some words in there that make sense or sort of make sense. I like to work quickly, so I’ll come up with the first thing that comes in my head.”

Barwick said the titles for her songs, and even albums, often come after the recording is done. But that’s not always the case. Where the inspiration comes from varies. She’ll let the music create a picture in her head, she said. Such was the case with “Nebula,” the first single off “Will” — listening, she saw in her mind a picture of outer space. Other songs are more grounded. “St. Apolonia,” she said, was recorded late at night at a train underpass of the same name in Lisbon, Portugal.

The songs on “Will” were recorded all over the world, a reflection of Barwick’s own spontaneity. A recording session at the Moog Factory Sound Lab in North Carolina happened after the synthesizer company gave her a prototype to try out. Barwick also recorded a portion at a friend’s house in upstate New York. Though she said it wasn’t intentional, Barwick thinks the isolation and loneliness she experienced during winter in New York might have subconsciously snuck into the album, creating a moodiness to the tracks.

Even though it was recorded in different locations, Will flows smoothly and the songs have a way of transitioning well into one another. It’s something of a happy accident, according to Barwick.

“I kind of felt like it might be disjointed,” she said. “I thought it might not be a very cohesive sounding record and I was OK with that. As long as I made things I like, I wasn’t thinking too hard about it.”

Despite her spontaneous approach to making albums, Barwick said her live performances are carefully crafted.

“(There’s) almost zero improvisation because I’m performing songs, I’ve figured out how to perform them,” she said. “What I do like about the songs is that there is wiggle room for (them) to be a little bit different every night. I can tinker with samples and keys.”

Julianna Barwick performs with guest Griffin Seuter of the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, April 30 at 8 p.m. at 3S Artspace, 319 Vaughan St., Portsmouth. Tickets are $17, available at 3sarts.org.