It’s difficult to think about a singer-songwriter on recent radar who is as emotionally interrupting as Julien Baker. Her songs fill you. Her songs swivel into the deepest parts of your heart and soul, make you ache, and whether you like it or not, will most definitely remind you love long lost, of sadness, of pain. All of her songs will flutter a sense of deep blue emotion, especially songs like “Sprained Ankle” and “Everybody Does.” The depth of her music, with the way she folds into herself and carries you with her through these songs (and through the dark journey of her substance abuse) with her lonely yet beautiful guitar, it’s very Chris Carrabba-like. You have no choice but to pay attention (and maybe shed an unapologetic tear or two).
Julien Baker is a young musician, who first sprung into the music scene in Memphis during college, and since then she’s become a magnetic force in music. She’s toured the world with some major names like Death Cab for Cutie and Pinegrove, and she’s signed to Matador Records. What a lifestyle change it’s been, going from writing songs in her dorm room to playing these small DIY venues around Tennessee to being one of the most sought after singer-songwriters of the last few years. And when you go to her shows, the whole place is silent–nobody wants to miss one moment, one note or even take too deep a breath that might distract the harrowing intensity of her performance.
Her latest singles this year include “Funeral Pyre” and “Distant Solar Systems,” and just as expected her sound is as blue and raw as it’s always been, as she keeps digging deeper and deeper into herself to make sense of it all.
Town Hall
10/27
8 p.m.
$25+
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