Given the emotionally-wrought and striking honesty of her music, it’s easy to forget Julien Baker is still all of 21 years old.
The sombre, sparse tone of her songs belies not only Baker’s age, but her mannerisms away from the work. She’s excitable and talkative, peppering the conversation with exasperations like “gosh” and “gee” while she hops from story to story.
The conversation starts with talk of the massive names Baker has performed alongside in the last year, among them indie giants such as Death Cab For Cutie, who she was discovered by when they saw her deliver a dreamy rendition of their track ‘Photobooth’ for The AV Club. But another name that quickly comes up is Frightened Rabbit, Baker’s most recent touring partners, which leads her to deliver an anecdote from their first physical encounter.
“I was at this festival called Shaky Knees in Atlanta,” she explains. “They were doing free tattoos, and I was getting one done on my leg. So there I am – down to my Pokémon boxers, screaming at the pain – when their lead singer Scott [Hutchison] walks in. That was our first interaction. When we actually met for the first time, I went to say, ‘I’m not sure if you remember…’ but he just started laughing, saying that he definitely did. What’s so funny is that me and my friend Josh ended up getting matching Legend Of Zelda tattoos, but our original plan was to get a corresponding lyric tattoo from the last Frightened Rabbit record. I’m so glad that we didn’t do that now.”
Another name recently associated with Baker is Touché Amoré, the American emo/post-hardcore powerhouse who enlisted Baker as a guest vocalist on ‘Skyscraper’, the heart-wrenching closer to the band’s recent LP Stage Four. Originally brought together through mutual acquaintances and connections, Baker now speaks of the band like good friends, and she’s amazed that she is so closely aligned with a band she has admired for many years.
“I’ve been so, so lucky to be able to establish a friendship with them,” she says. “For all of the angst of my younger years, their music was there for me, and I’ll forever be grateful for that. The first show that we played together at Chain Reaction in Anaheim is still, to this day, one of the best shows I’ve ever played. We are two acts that are diametrically opposed from a stylistic viewpoint, so I was a little nervous at first when Jeremy [Bolm, vocalist] asked me to play. When it was over, I’ll never forget, this big, burly Orange County hardcore dude came up to me and said, ‘That was a sick set.’ I said to him, ‘Oh, that’s good – I thought everyone might have been a bit bored.’ He immediately said back, ‘Nah, man. Honesty transcends genre.’ How beautiful of a thing is music that things like that can happen?”
Sprained Ankle, Baker’s debut album, was released quietly with little fanfare through indie label 6131 Records towards the end of 2015. But it wasn’t long at all before the album found a global fan base and ended up becoming one of the highest selling LPs on Bandcamp. From basement shows and all-ages matinees, Baker has now stepped up to theatres and clubs that are constantly hanging up ‘sold out’ signs, both in her native land of North America and in various other continents as the demand grows bigger and bigger. “It comes as a surprise to me – and I hope that it always does,” says Baker of her international following.
“I’ll go through Twitter, and I’ll see posts from people listening to me in Venezuela and in Austria – and they’re begging me to come play for them. Last year, when Sprained Ankle had been out for just over a month, it got added in rotation to a playlist for coffee shops in Spain. I was getting all of these messages from Spain and from Italy… I was so overwhelmed. I know there’s a lot of contention and debate over the benefits of streaming, but here’s the thing: isn’t it crazy that a record I never thought anyone out of my friends would ever care about is being sung back to me in Paris? I couldn’t even have a conversation with a lot of people there. In that moment, though, we’re all singing at the same time.”
Almost exactly a year since the release of Sprained Ankle, Baker will be making her debut tour of Australia. As well as several key headline shows, Baker will also be performing at regional music festivals in Mullumbimby, as well as Fairgrounds in Berry. “I’m so excited to come and play for you guys,” she enthuses. “There’s been a lot of Australian music doing the rounds over here – Violent Soho were just in town, and I know they’re massive. They’ve been playing some pretty small shows here, and they might never do anything like that again.
“Also, I love Camp Cope – the second I heard ‘Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams’, I was on board instantly. I’m really excited to be playing these festivals – I honestly have no idea what to expect. Everything I know about Australia, I’ve learned from The Guardian!”
[Julien Baker photo by Jake Cunningham]
Julien BakerperformsMonday November 21, Wednesday November 23 and Thursday November 24 atNewtown Social Club; thenMullum Music Festival, Mullumbimby, Tuesday November 17 – Sunday November 20 and Fairgrounds Festival, Berry, Friday December 2 – Saturday December 3.
