Julien Baker Opens Up in New Album
Out lesbian touches on identity, religion, and substance use
BY STEVE ERICKSON
Julien Baker can break
your heart with just her
voice and guitar or piano.
Her music is so intimate
that listening to it feels voyeuristic.
Her third album, “Little Oblivions,”
fl eshes out the complexities of her
life as an out lesbian, Christian
and someone who has endured
substance use issues. When she
took the leap of signing to a large
indie label, Matador Records, in
2017 for the release of her second
album, “Turn Out the Lights,” the
honesty of her songwriting connected
with an enthusiastic audience,
especially young women.
Some fans have gotten tattoos
of her face. Phoebe Bridgers, her
bandmate in the all-female singer/
songwriter supergroup boygenius,
recently said that she’s been asked
for clues to Baker’s private life.
Indeed, we haven’t heard much
from Baker since the 2018 release
of boygenius’ ep. (Bridgers and Lucy
Dacus, the other two members of
the group, are bi and queer, respectively.)
She dropped “Tokyo” as part
of Sub Pop’s singles of the month
club last year. The delay stemmed
for positive reasons (a decision to
return to college) and unfortunate
ones (an alcohol relapse).
On her fi rst two albums, she
worked without drums. While her
songs sometimes built towards
more elaborate arrangements,
their core was simple and strippeddown.
“Little Oblivions” is bigger in
every way. Given her commercial
success and higher profi le, she obviously
had more time and money
in the studio this time around. The
production is much thicker and
louder. She’s blunter about subject
MUSIC
FLICKR/REBECCA SOWELL
Julien Baker at The National Homecoming Festival in Cincinnati in 2018.
➤ BAKER, continued on p.31
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