Twenty four year old alternative rocker, Julien Baker, has just released two new songs titled “Tokyo” and “Sucker Punch.” Baker was born in Germantown, Tennessee but was raised in Bartlett after her family moved there when she was younger, she attended Middle Tennessee State University where she began writing and recording her own music. With the help of a friend, she recorded an EP at Spacebomb Studios and self-released the project to Bandcamp, the EP then turned into her critically acclaimed album, Sprained Ankles, which she recorded when she was only twenty years old.
Baker co-founded the group The Star Killers in 2010 which then later renamed themselves, Forrister. On October 18th 2017 she made her national-television debut on CBS This Morning, then just a few months later she made her late-night show debut on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. She also released her follow up album to Sprained Ankles in 2017, Turn Out The Lights recieved a score of 83/100 on the review aggregator website Metacritic, indicating “universal acclaim” from critics.
Her two new singles are another prime example of her breathtaking vulnerability and resiliency that helped characterize her acclaimed albums. “Tokyo” opens with a beautiful harp sounding arpeggio before the calming sound of Baker’s voice and chugging feel of the guitar take over, then when least expecting it the sound of a grand piano comes ringing through complimenting the clean sounding vocals of Baker. “Sucker Punch” offers a much darker feel to it, the song opens with a somber sounding guitar placing emphasis on the sadder sounding notes of the chord progression, then the easily recognizable angelic sounding timbre of Baker’s voice comes through to elaborate on the drab feeling track. You can check out the fresh new tracks from Julien Baker below.
Unfortunately, Baker has had to cancel the rest of her live shows for 2019 due to “ongoing medical issues.” This wasn’t the first time this year that the singer had cancelled a show, back in February she had to cancel the remainder of her Australian tour dates including stops in Japan and New Zealand due to “unforeseen personal matters,” then later on in the year she had to call off a performance with boygenius bandmate due to “unforeseen medical circumstances.” There has been no word whether or not Baker will reschedule the performances for the remainder of the year.
Photo Credit: Kalyn Oyer
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