When you stumble upon a songwriter as tender as Julien Baker, the initial urge is to keep her all to yourself. The Tennessee native has been working as part of Memphis’ Forrister for a while now, but her solo debut Sprained Ankle sounds effortless, a wellspring of wisdom and weariness from an impossibly astute 20-year-old. Baker recorded her debut at Matthew E. White’s Spacebomb Studios, which is why every note and lyric sounds clear and clean like polished silver. Julien Baker’s spare, magnificent songs gleam and shimmer, fractured precursors of things to come.
