anyway, don't be a stranger

In 2017, Julien Baker released her last album, the great Turn Out The Lights.  Baker has, of course, remained plenty busy in the interim. But now she’s finally gearing up to release a new album: It’s called Little Oblivions, and it’ll be out in February.

Along with the announcement, Baker has shared a new song called ‘Faith Healer.’ Here’s what she had to say about it:

“Put most simply, I think that “Faith Healer” is a song about vices, both the obvious and the more insidious ways that they show up in the human experience. I started writing this song two years ago and it began as a very literal examination of addiction. For awhile, I on’y had the first verse, which is just a really candid confrontation of the cognitive dissonance a person who struggles with substance abuse can feel — the overwhelming evidence that this substance is harming you, and the counterintuitive but very real craving for the relief it provides. When I revisited the song I started thinking about the parallels between the escapism of substance abuse and the other various means of escapism that had occupied a similar, if less easily identifiable, space in my psyche.

“There are so many channels and behaviors that we use to placate discomfort unhealthily which exist outside the formal definition of addiction. I (and so many other people) are willing to believe whomever — a political pundit, a preacher, a drug dealer, an energy healer — when they promise healing, and how that willingness, however genuine, might actually impede healing.”

“Faith Healer’ comes with a video directed by Daniel Henry. Check it out below.

Little Oblivions:

01. Hardline 02. Heatwave 03. Faith Healer 04. Relative Fiction 05. Crying Wolf 06. Bloodshot 07. Ringside 08. Favor 09. Song In E 10. Repeat 11. Highlight Reel 12. Ziptie

Little Oblivions is out February 26 via Matador.

Julien Baker - Faith Healer

and then we were strangers again.

scott street - phoebe bridgers //