Once again we’ve missed the boat. But we’re all better now. We’ve finally caught the Julien Baker bug going around and are loving her symptoms. Baker just turned 20 years-old and is a singer-songwriter from Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  She recorded her haunting debut album, Sprained Ankle, at Matthew E. White’s Spacebomb space in Richmond.  Check out below the official video for the album’s title track.  We love the spare, affecting lyrics (see below) and desolated visuals to match.  Add spare guitar harmonics to the beginning, and we are all in.  So much of it reminds us of Sharon Van Etten, which is highest praise in our book.  No wonder Van Etten has been singing Baker’s praise.  The apple doesn’t fall very far from her tree.

Sprained Ankle:

“Wish I could write songs about anything other than death
I can’t go to bed without drawing the red, shaving off breaths
Each one so heavy, each one so cumbersome
Each one a lead weight hanging between my lungs
Spilling my guts
Sweat on a microphone, breaking my voice
Whenever I’m alone with you, can’t talk
Isn’t this weather nice? Are you okay?
Should I go somewhere else and hide my face?
Sprinter, learning to wait
Marathon runner, my ankles are sprained
Marathon runner, my ankles are sprained”