Mary Lattimore and Julianna Barwick unveil debut collaborative single, "Perpetual Adoration"

Crafted within the walls of Philharmonie de Paris, the duo were given access to the extraordinary, historic instrument collection of the Musée de la Musique, in partnership with the French label InFiné. Together in improvised dialogue, voice and instrument — Lattimore having selected an Érard double movement harp (France, 1873) and Barwick behind a Sequential Circuits PROPHET-5 analog synthesizer (USA, circa 1975) — the duo channels emotion drawn from a visit to Basilica of Sacré Cœur de Montmartre.

“Our very first evening in Paris involved a trip to see the Sacré Coeur. It was a Sunday evening and there was a mass taking place and as we neared the exit a beautiful surge of organ playing cascaded through the breathtaking building and a nun began singing a luminous hymn from the pulpit. We were all moved by the gorgeous music that we felt physically in this historic space.

The next day was our first day in the museum and as we were setting up our instruments we began to play a little, and what began as a jam inspired by what we had already seen and heard became something we decided was worth recording and fleshing out. What was born was the hymn-like ‘Perpetual Adoration', very much influenced by the tones from our evening at sacre coeur. Outside there was a placard that described daytime masses as 'perpetual adoration' and we loved the phrase and the connection to the city. 'Perpeutal Adoration' is the first piece of music we made at the museum with those precious instruments,” Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore explain.