When: 7.30pm on Monday 23 May 2011
Where: Kraak, off Stevenson Square, Manchester M1 1DB

We’re delighted to be putting on Brooklyn-based singer Julianna Barwick at alternative Northern Quarter venue Kraak.

Louisiana-bred, Brooklyn-based recording artist Julianna Barwick crafts ethereal, largely wordless soundscapes, all of which are built around multiple loops and layers of her angelic voice. Barwick, who credits a rural, church choir upbringing for her unique sound, begins most tracks with a single phrase or refrain, then uses a loop station and the occasional piano or percussive instrument to build the song into a swirling mass of lush, ambient folk.

She released her first two collections of songs, the full-length Sanguine and the EP Florine in 2009 and 2010 respectively, before issuing her debut, The Magic Place, this year on Asthmatic Kitty (Sufjan Stevens, Castanets, My Brightest Diamond).

‘She might bring to mind the bright harmonies of Panda Bear or the mystical invocations of Elizabeth Fraser, but her approach is her own’ – Pitchfork, 8.5/10, Best New Music

Support comes from Manchester-based singer-songwriter Najia Bagi, who has been writing for 15 years or so. Her influences range from Billie Holiday to Antony & the Johnsons and classical music, both Eastern and Western (her name is Libyan – she has an Arabic father and English mother). She sings with various groups in Manchester and Barcelona but for this show she will be performing the first solo material she has written in over five years. In fact, this will only be the second time these songs have been performed in public. Expect ballads about tragic journeys to the sun and beautiful vampires lurking in the dark.

‘Beautiful, heartbreaking and divine rolled into one’ – Band on the Wall

Kraak is a performance and exhibition space in the Northern Quarter. It’s down a cobbled street, just behind Fit To Dance off Stevenson Square.

Tickets are available from the bar, Common (both no booking fee), Piccadilly Records, Seetickets.com, WeGotTickets.com and on 0871 220 0260.

Attend on: Facebook | Last.fm