Julien Baker - Little Oblivions (Album Review)
Monday, 08 March 2021
Photo: Alysse Gafkjen
Julien Baker has always treated the gaps between notes as an integral part of her music, using sparse, brittle backing to foreground gut-shot lyrical observations and searching questions, or splitting moments of calm with a refrain that pours out like a torrent. On ‘Little Oblivions’ the challenge is to maintain this piercing sort of compositional nous when there’s a lot more going on in the background.
This is comfortably Baker’s most expansive release, fusing her crystalline guitar lines with whirling keys and fidgety drums that at times recall the anti-structure playing of producer Jim Dickinson on Big Star’s ‘Third’. Against this canvas she reckons with growth and understanding, relapse and self-criticism, finding fresh modes of expression without sidelining her voice.