Around a minute into “Dawning,” at the end of a solo acoustic guitar introduction that rises and rests at its own calm pace, Yasmin Williams pauses to let a harmonic chord ring for a full eight seconds.
It has the feeling of a deep breath before the start of a walk into the sunrise. When Williams returns, she’s joined by Aoife O’Donovan, who sings a melody without lyrics — vocals of any kind are a first in Williams’s music — and bare-bones percussion.
Across the song’s six minutes, Williams and O’Donovan pause repeatedly, at the end of a movement or a run, and pick back up when it feels as though the song is ready.
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