Julien Baker’s solo debut, Sprained Ankle, was one of the most widely hailed works of 2015. The album, recorded by an 18-year-old and her friend in only a few days, was a bleak yet hopeful, intimate document of staggering experiences and grace, centred entirely around Baker’s voice, guitar, and unblinking honesty.
With Turn Out the Lights, Baker returns to a much bigger stage, but with the same core of breathtaking vulnerability and resilience. From its opening moments — when her chiming, evocative melody is accompanied by swells of strings — Turn Out the Lights throws open the doors to the world without sacrificing the intimacy that has become a hallmark of her songs.