June 2, 2014

Take a Sonic Vacation With Ela Stiles and Julianna Barwick

Barwick: Courtesy of Dead Oceans; Stiles: Courtesy of Bedroom Suck Records

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Ela Stiles
Ela Stiles
Fire

Julianna Barwick
Rosabi
Dead Oceans

 

It’s hard to imagine a more refreshing listen than these two short, sweet EPs, both of which find inventive women manipulating the unadorned human voice in intriguing ways. Australian Ela Stiles‘ seven-song, 17-minute outing blends layers of warm a cappella singing in shifting combinations to evoke an earthy hybrid of medieval and futuristic. The centerpiece is the gently unsettling “Drone Transitions,” an 11-minute single vocal drone that’s eerily hypnotic.

Meanwhile, the ever-ethereal American Julianna Barwick partners with Dogfish Head Craft Brewery for the four-song, 16-minute Rosabi, adding sounds from the brewing process to her mesmerizing vocal loops. Continuing the hazy approach of her captivating albums Nepenthe and The Magic Place, Barwick’s dreamy textures are soothing and curiously stimulating at once, offering the perfect respite from daily stress.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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