In her latest LP, indie darling Julien Baker spares her audience the optimism and opens the darkest parts of her story to us.
Four years after her sophomore album, Tennessee-born musician and producer Julien Baker delves straight into the real shit, at the forefront being her struggle with substance abuse and addiction. From the first line of the opening track we know exactly what flavour of heartbreak she has served for us this time: “Blacked out on a weekday”. This raw and unabridged lyricism continues throughout the entire project, impressively without lacking variety or dimension. Much like her previous releases, Julien faces inwards and cuts herself no slack.
Though her style of writing hasn’t evolved noticeably from her other two albums, she returns with a more full-bodied sound in Little Oblivions. The opening track “Hardline” sounds like a live set in full clarity, devoid of the distance a studio-feel would have given. Where her previous projects felt very singer-songwriter, this LP features a full band without drowning out the salient vocal performance.
That being said, at some points in the album the vocal mix doesn’t quite do her justice. Track 4 “Relative Fiction” sees Julien hiding behind the harmonies, missing an opportunity for her signature belt we see in fan favourite “Appointments” from her sophomore album. Strangely, we get back this vocal purity in “Song in E” where the reaching harmonies would have added more substance to what stops just short of an album highlight.
Julien Baker’s supergroup Boygenius with fellow stars Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus heavily shows its influence in this album, and not just in track “Favor” where Bridgers and Dacus are backing vocalists. The sonorous drums and effortless guitar riffs pay montage to their self-titled EP, which received critical acclaim upon its release in 2018.
With few missteps, Little Oblivions is full of life and loss in all its forms. Julien Baker proves herself as the queen of self-awareness, and even for those who don’t bear the weight of addiction, her songs reflect trauma of any origin.
Rating: 7.5/10
Nuwanda Reviews 