Julien Baker has announced B-Sides, an EP of tracks taken from the recording sessions for her critically heralded third full-length Little Oblivions. Today, you can listen to ‘Guthrie’, a gorgeous and hushed finger-picked ballad.
LISTEN / WATCH here.
The EP will be out digitally on July 21st via Matador Records and features three emotionally potent never-before-heard songs. Fans can pre-save B-Sides today here.
The release of her most recent album, Little Oblivions landed Baker her highest career chart position coming in the top 40 on the Billboard 200. It hit the #1 spot on the Alternative Album, Independent Album, Vinyl Sales and Americana/folk charts as well. It also hit #3 on the Top Current Album chart. Julien had a successful run with her first radio single ‘Faith Healer’ peaking in the top 15 of Billboard Triple A charts.Baker released a remix EP, Little Oblivions Remixes featuring Half Waif, Thao, Helios and more in 2021.
Following the release of Little Oblivions, she performed her single ‘Hardline’ on Late Night with Seth Meyers, ‘Faith Healer’ on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and ‘Favor’ on The Late Late Show with James Corden. She has also appeared on CBS This Morning’s Saturday Sessions. The performance, filmed in Nashville, featured the album tracks ‘Faith Healer,’ ‘Heatwave’ and ‘Hardline.’
“Baker’s third-full length album vaults her into a whole new league,” said Variety, “and proves more than ever that she is a rare artist indeed.”
Rolling Stone said “Little Oblivions is not only the most richly produced, pop-aware release of Baker’s career, but also her most unsparingly honest in its messiness.”
Little Oblivions is the follow up to Baker’s 2017 sophomore album and first on Matador Turn Out The Lights. In 2018, Baker formed boygenius with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. The resulting eponymous EP and joint North American tour made for one of the most celebrated and talked about musical communions of that year, highlighting Baker among the forefront of a burgeoning generation of era-defining artists.
Baker shot to worldwide attention in 2015 with show-stopping debut, Sprained Ankle. Recorded in only a few days, it was a bleak yet hopeful meditation on identity, addiction, faith, resilience and redemption. An intense and immersive performer, her live shows were described by The New Yorker as “…. hushed, reverential. The only sounds you hear between songs are her fingers as she tweaks the tuning on her electric guitar, scattered whispers between friends, and the rustling as the crowd waits patiently for Baker to start strumming again”.
Baker has collaborated on studio recordings with Frightened Rabbit, Matt Berninger, Hayley Williams, Becca Mancari, Mary Lambert, and on stage with Justin Vernon, The National, Sharon Van Etten, Ben Gibbard, and others.
Earlier this year, Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen, and Julien Baker announced The Wild Hearts Tour, an epic run of co-headlining dates that sees these three legendary songwriters, all known for their incredible, cathartic live performances, playing across North America this July and August. The tour consists of mostly outdoor venues, with the exception of the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and Massey Hall in Toronto. Each artist will play with their own respective band. Tickets are on sale now, and special guest Quinn Christopherson will support on most dates. The Wild Hearts Tour has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 from every ticket will go to support people rebuilding their lives after incarceration.
