Insecurities form into a thunderous roar
The sophomore album from young Baker is like a personal conversation tailored to your life.
The 22-year-old Memphis, Tennessee born singer, Julien Baker, is her own worst critic. Baker has opened the world’s eyes up to the incredible phenomena of being able to talk about the underlying demons in our lives. Baker not only identifies as gay while keeping her Christianity strong, she has opened her metaphorical journal in Turn Out the Lights to anyone who is willing to listen. Her crippling anxiety and raw way of asking for the answers to her questions on life is comforting in an unknown way.
After being a part of alternative group Forrister, Baker released her first solo studio album, Sprained Ankle in 2015. Only being 19 at the time, Baker amazed with her ability to open up with effortless ease about her substance abuse and depression as a teen. In Turn Out the Lights, she has taken her insecurities and made them into a thunderous roar that can be felt throughout every vein. Her ability to turn an internal issue that some keep bottled up their whole life into a fantastic intimate journey is like a magical power.
Stand out tracks like “Turn Out the Lights” and “Sour Breath” are all eloquently paired with Baker’s tremendous piano, organ and guitar playing. With help from woodwind player Cam Boucher and violin player Camille Faulkner, tracks like “Hurt Less” leave a haunting feeling of self doubt, affliction and reassurance. “Appointments” demonstrates her troubles in relationships with her partners, family or whoever the person on the other side of the conversation might be. Baker leaves a “fill in the blank” feel in some of the tracks that really allow the listener to fully place themselves in the lyrics and transport to a new world for two to three minutes. “Nothing turns out like I pictured it / Maybe the Emptiness is just a lesson in canvases.”
Turn Out the Lights is a 40-minute experimental look into this young girl’s life. She opens herself up in a way that makes her more than venerable. Baker does an extraordinarily good job of helping not only girls her age, but anyone dealing with issues that aren’t easy to express. She gives comfort to those in similar situations. She has anxiety, she is gay, religious and depressed, and that is all okay.
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