Julien Baker

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Julien Rose Baker (born September 29, 1995) is an American singer and guitarist from Memphis, Tennessee, United States. She is a member of the alternative rock band Forrister, formerly known as The Star Killers. She released a studio album, Sprained Ankle, on 6131 Records in 2015, and a second full length release, Turn Out the Lights, on Matador Records in 2017.

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Personal life

Baker was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee She learned to play on her father's guitar. She attended Middle Tennessee State University where she studied audio engineering and later majoring in Literature with a double minor in Spanish and Secondary Education before leaving school in order to tour full-time. Baker identifies as gay and Christian.

Maps Julien Baker

Music

Style

Baker has met critical acclaim for her performance and songwriting, described as emotively cathartic, as well as a fresh take on folk music. Her album Sprained Ankle has been described as featuring pared-back fragile songs, while Turn Out the Lights features more developed song structures while retaining the raw emotion of its predecessor.

Career

In 2010, Baker cofounded a band called The Star Killers, which renamed itself Forrister in 2015. During her freshman year at MTSU, Baker began writing songs on her own, often in the university practice rooms late at night. With a friend, Michael Hegner, she recorded an EP at Spacebomb Studios, which she self-released in the winter of 2014 on Bandcamp which became the studio album Sprained Ankle, in October 2015. Sprained Ankle topped many 2015 end-of-the-year lists and its success led to features in The New Yorker and The New York Times.

On March 7, 2016 she performed on an NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert. During that set she referenced a new song called Sad Song #11 which was later titled "Funeral Pyre" and released with "Distant Solar Systems" as the b-side. Baker contributed a song titled "Decorated Lawns" to the Punk Talks winter compilation called Jingle Yay which released December 1, 2016.

Baker has opened for bands including Death Cab for Cutie, Conor Oberst, The Decemberists, Belle & Sebastian, and Paramore. In 2017 she signed to Matador Records, releasing a 7" of the songs "Funeral Pyre" and "Distant Solar Systems". An LP, Turn Out the Lights, recorded at Tennessee's Ardent Studios with help from Sorority Noise's Cameron Boucher, was released on October 27, 2017.

On October 28, 2017, Baker made her national television debut on CBS This Morning and on January 3, 2018, she made her late night debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.