Julien Baker’s solo debut, Sprained Ankle,
was one of the most widely hailed works of
2015. The album, recorded by an 18-yearold
and her friend in only a few days, was
a bleak yet hopeful, intimate document
of staggering experiences and grace,
centered entirely around Baker’s voice,
guitar, and unblinking honesty. The album
appeared on year-end lists everywhere from
NPR Music to New York Magazine’s Vulture.
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.
The album was recorded at the legendary
Ardent Studios in her hometown of
Memphis, TN, and mixed by Craig Silvey
(The National, Arcade Fire). This evolution
from ‘Sprained Ankle’s intentionally spare
production allows Baker — who is still the
album’s sole producer and writer — greater
scope and freedom. Strings and woodwinds
now shade the corners of her compositions,
and Baker takes to piano rather than guitar
on several tracks, pushing the 21-yearold
Baker’s work to cinematic heights of
intensity.