Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore, celebrated composers within the fields of contemporary ambient and experimental music, unite their singular talents on the ethereal new song Perpetual Adoration, marking their debut collaborative single. Invited by guest curator Lonnie Holley, the longtime friends and collaborators will perform together at Le Guess Who? 2025.
Perpetual Adoration finds the duo synthesizing their respective crafts within the walls of Philharmonie de Paris, given access to the extraordinary instrument collection of the Musée de la Musique. Together in improvised dialogue, voice and instrument — Lattimore selecting an Érard double movement harp (France, 1873) and Barwick behind a Sequential Circuits PROPHET-5 analog synthesizer (USA, circa 1975) — the duo channels an immense volume of emotion drawn from their visit.
They carried this powerful scene with them into a session. The resulting performance honors both the moment and the history within their instruments: the gilded, ornate Érard harp, the first modern pedal harp, remains open for innovation, still carrying the simplest, universally beautiful tone of human fingers on strings. The PROPHET-5 has shaped several decades of exploratory music, and Barwick continues this legacy. Her skyward synth and vocal lines ascend alongside Lattimore's tender harp strums, creating a meditation on the restorative power of shared experience.
Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore perform at Le Guess Who? 2025 on Friday 7 November. Also performing are a.o. Daisy Rickman, Kathryn Mohr, Tomo Katsurada, and many more.
Photography by Rachel Pony
