Nashville-based, Memphis-native Julien Baker has stolen our hearts at the expense of her own on brilliant third album Little Oblivions.
Following Baker’s 2017 sophomore album Turn Out The Lights, Little Oblivions was recorded in Baker’s hometown of Memphis, Tennessee between December 2019 and January 2020. Engineered by Calvin Lauber and mixed by Craig Silvey (The National, Florence & the Machine, Arcade Fire), Baker told Tone Deaf the album’s release was “bizarre” and “super disorienting” thanks to COVIID-19.
“I wrote this record in excitement to finally be playing with a full band and all of the shows that we’ve been able to play have been like radio sessions or the remote captures,” she said. “I’ve been grateful for them to get to meet up and make music with these players that I love so much and who are dear friends but it’s so sterile compared to a live show.
“It’s just much different than I had imagined, finally making the record that called for a full band and then only getting to play those things in a studio context.”
Check out Julian Baker’s lyric video for ‘Heatwave’:
The record arrives three years after Baker formed boygenius with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. The musical communion was always going to be a notable collaboration, but the eponymous EP sparked a global rush to Julien Baker’s galvanising solo work.
Stream Julien Baker’s third album Little Oblivions below, then read up on why the team here at Tone Deaf love it so much.
Stream Julien Baker’s album Little Oblivions:
“Little Oblivions is agonising, unrelenting and so god damn beautiful. It marks Julien Baker’s first foray into a full-band sound and the outcome is apocalyptic. Hurt, self-hatred, forgiveness and addiction are put under the microscope. It’s a difficult listen, one that excavates the most ugly parts of being alive, but the results are so rewarding.”
– Geordie Gray
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“Over three years on from her last full-length solo release, Julien Baker’s Little Oblivions is the definition of a satisfying climax to an excruciating wait. Equal parts intimate and revealing, while remaining contradictorily expansive, Baker has crafted something truly special with this latest record, and undoubtedly set the new standard for what albums should be in 2021.”
– Tyler Jenke
:: READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH JULIEN BAKER
Julien Baker – Little Oblivions
1. Hardline
2. Heatwave
3. Faith Healer
4. Relative Fiction
5. Crying Wolf
6. Bloodshot
7. Ringside
8. Favor
9. Song in E
10. Repeat
11. Highlight Reel
12. Ziptie
Check out Julian Baker’s video for ‘Faith Healer’:
