Julien Baker continues to rise thanks to the strength of her 2015 debut album “Sprained Ankle” and her mesmerising live sets . It’s now been announced that she’s signed to the wonderful indie label Matador Records So big congrats to Julien, its awesome news and gives hope for some UK festivals or shows this year. .
Her first release for the label is the new single, “Funeral Pyre” a song that you may remember she debuted in an Tiny Desk Concert last year. The studio version is just as gorgeous as the version she played on NPR. Here’s what she tells NPR about it in a new interview:
Obviously, drinking gasoline incurs bodily harm on you, but also, being an accessory to that kind of behavior and having to decide — it incurs harm upon you, too. And then, are you responsible for permitting that? If you stay, are you responsible for permitting it? And if you leave, are you responsible for not intervening? If you intervene, are you out of your bounds? Everything about the song is figuring out how you should act in your level of responsibility for your own health and to others in the dynamic of a relationship, which is a difficult lesson to learn.I feel like I would have put myself into an unfavorable or unhealthy position for this person and maybe recognizing from an outside perspective that that destructivism is a more healthy thing to do than to stay in it for the sort of, romantic, admirable belief that subjecting yourself to this kind of sacrificial, fatuous love would be more of the right thing to do.
“Funeral Pyre” won’t be out until March with “Distant Solar System,” an unheard song from the Sprained Ankle sessions, on the flip. Matador Records will also reissue Sprained Ankle, originally released on 6131 Records, that day (but not in the US or Australia).
Julien Baker has contributed a new song to Punk Talks’ holiday album, “Jingle Yay! Punk Talks”, an organization that provides musicians and industry workers with free mental health services, was founded in 2015.
Baker’s new song, “Decorated Lawns,” is the perfect song to get you in a reflective, somewhat nostalgic mood just in time for the holidays. It’s slightly more upbeat than her debut album, “Sprained Ankle”, but remains characteristic of the singer-songwriter. (It wouldn’t be complete if someone didn’t crash a car!) The album is available for purchase now via Bandcamp
Listen to “Decorated Lawns” via 36Vultures .
The Fat Angel Sings 