Track by track: Baby Cool breaks down 'Earthling on the Road to Self Love'

“At the end of the day it’s so strange and beautiful to be alive in the first place.” This is how Grace Cuell, the artist behind Baby Cool, describes “Daydream’, the final song from her debut album, and it’s a sentiment that could also accurately capture the record’s sense of wonderment as a whole.

The latest project of the Nice Biscuit musician, Cuell shared Earthling on the Road to Self Love, her imaginative first album under the Baby Cool moniker, last Friday, and there won’t be many more conceptually interesting releases this year.

Each track acts as a love letter that Cuell penned and read to herself each day. “I wrote myself a love letter on a piece of pink handmade paper and I read the letter to myself every morning,” she explains. “The concept of the album was born from this daily ritual.”

In lesser hands, this could have been an exercise in pretentiousness – just consider that album title – but Cuell carries the concept with aplomb; it’s sentimental, certainly, but the album never evolves into mawkishness.

It also helps that these songs unfold hazily with a slow-burning energy, allowing for Baby Cool’s positive introspection to come naturally. Recalling the work of Alice Phoebe Lou or Jessica Pratt, the singer-songwriter’s debut is a treasure trove of exquisite details – an acidic country-psychedelic guitar line here, a profound dissection of what it feels like to exist in a human body there.

Endlessly thoughtful and passionately explorative, Cuell should get a lot of sonic mileage out of this Baby Cool project. To celebrate the album’s release, Tone Deaf asked the Brisbane-based artist to discuss each track in more detail, which you can read below. Baby Cool will also be heading out on an album tour next month (see full dates below).

Baby Cool’s Earthling on the Road to Self Love is out now via Virgin Music Australia, Bad Vibrations (U.K./EU), Greenway Records/Levitation (U.S.).

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Earthling on the Road to Self Love Track by Track:

‘The Sea’

After spending too much time in the darkest parts of my brain, I wrote myself a love letter and read it every morning for almost six months. I had reached a point so low that I needed daily reminders that my body was safe and it was my home. This song is an adaptation of that letter, and represents the start of a long and winding journey to accepting and loving myself.

‘Ode to Mother Luna’

Of course, there is a song about the moon. Those that know me intimately know that I often look to our giant orb in search of some sort of meaning. I like to think of her as a wise crone with a bit of sass, looking down on us all playing out our bullshit day after day with a bit of “if you say so” energy about her.

‘Altar’

It’s amazing that we get to exist in these unique bodies, all feeling different things and having different experiences of the world. A big part of reconciling my relationship with myself was showing gratitude for my physical body every day, and that is what this song is about. Learning to worship my skin and hold my own hand has been the nicest part of this whole journey.

‘For Us’

I wrote this song for an ex-partner as a way of envisioning a more sustainable future for the two of us. We parted ways soon after recording the track, although our lives remain entwined in a number of ways. Now I feel as though the song’s meaning has morphed into what I am seeking in my intimate relationships.

I don’t believe that you need to sacrifice all of yourself to hold space for another’s emotions, and that is what the song is fundamentally about – entwined independence, mutual respect, and deep and genuine care for the wellbeing of another.

Jess Ferronato (Nice Biscuit) co-produced most of the arrangements on the record. The outro on this track was his handiwork, it’s such a beautiful expression of his musical style which I admire and respect endlessly.

‘Poison’

I like to imagine I’m singing this to that annoying voice of self loathing and anxiety that can surface from time to time. The lyrics are kind of relevant to sing to an annoying ex too, if you need. Either way, it can’t be roses all of the time, and learning to love yourself means recognising the parts that can feel not so nice.

‘Country Song’

I spend a lot of time in large groups of people and whilst I love this, I hold my time alone to be my most sacred treasure. This song is about leaning into the introverted side of yourself and learning that loneliness can be optional if you learn to be content in your own company.

‘Magic’

I wrote this song about learning to be gentle with yourself when you don’t show up in the way you would like to in life or relationships. It’s impossible to be perfect, and as long as you’re dedicated to being a good human I feel like it’s important to forgive yourself for the bumps in the road along the way.

‘Daydream’

At the end of the day it’s so strange and beautiful to be alive in the first place. This song is about learning to sit through the intensity of it all, and to let it all go.