REVIEW: Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore - Tragic Magic
A match made in heaven
42:30 // January 16, 2026 // Infine
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better pairing to make a collaborative album than Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore. For the uninitiated, they’re both standouts in the world of ambient-ish music, with the former’s work tending towards shimmering ambient pop, while the latter is most notable as the one and only harpist about 10% of underground music fans could name (the second-most popular answer after “none”, of course), with her sprawling body of work leaning upon a minimal chamber-folk sound. In short, both artists create sleepy yet beautiful music, but their styles are far enough apart to merit a potentially interesting melding of the minds.
Reviewing this album isn’t exactly an easy task - indeed, both of these artists’s releases are the kind for which I default to throwing around words like “gorgeous” and “sublime” and calling it a day. The catchily-titled Tragic Magic is both of those things in spades, but the biggest surprise is simply the level of success this partnership achieves - I find this latest effort more compelling overall than anything else I’ve heard in my (non-exhaustive) exploration of both artists’ collections.
Any listener familiar with the vibes of either Barwick or Lattimore’s previous output won’t be surprised by the slow-paced and ethereal feel of Tragic Magic. This album can be used as a sleep aid or as a chillout soundtrack, and will truly excel for those purposes. But, after a half-dozen listens, my most interesting takeaway is how much variety unveils itself here to the more intent listener, despite this record consisting only of assorted synths played by Barwick, assorted harps played by Lattimore, and occasional vocals. The exact interplay of those limited elements, and the moods they evoke, though, never get trapped into a boring formula. Comprised of five compositions by the two collaborating artists and two from other sources (“Rachel’s Song” by Vangelis and “Temple of the Winds”, written by Roger Eno specifically for this project), the angelic sound of Tragic Magic never feels far from the gates of heaven, but different moments call up feelings more akin to some celestial paradise or to a more earthbound, rustic Arcadia.
In general, I find the album to gather steam as it progresses, with later tracks like the dreamy “Haze with no Haze”, the gorgeous “Stardust”, and the relative epic of a closer “Melted Moon” shining above all. The aforementioned “Stardust” in particular deserves more consideration, its more elaborate arrangement achieving transcendence, blending droning ambient notes with soothing harp before mellow beats, slight distortion, and hazy vocals bring everything together. This isn’t to say that the earlier stages of the album are a total slouch, though - the opening duo of the rather minimalistic “Perpetual Adoration” and the New Age-y “The Four Sleeping Princesses” establish a rich atmosphere and are undeniably beautiful in their own right. Indeed, this album feels “all killer, no filler” and the relatively concise runtime works perfectly given the record’s relaxing pace and feel. Tragic Magic is lovely, extremely calming, and the first release of 2026 which I’d call absolutely essential. Did I mention that it’s also “gorgeous” and “sublime”?
8.0/10