(Indie Rock, Alternative) Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle - 2015, MP3, 320 kbps

When you're 19 and you've lived through substance abuse, people like to tell you that you're wise beyond your years. It's something singer-songwriter Julien Baker gets a lot, especially after people hear her music, which is filled with the sort of pain you expect from someone well beyond her teen years. But Baker thinks everyone is wrong about her. She admits to "having to confront darkness" in her past, but she likes to think of herself as "eternally becoming." That's exactly what you hear in her debut album, Sprained Ankle, which Vulture is pleased to stream exclusively ahead of its release this Friday. I contest Baker is not wise beyond her years, but uncannily wise of her years; her songs are filled with indecision, self-frustration, and uncertain hope.
When I first heard Baker's music, I thought of Sharon Van Etten, but soon realized Sprained Ankle is more like Bon Iver's For Emma Forever Ago or the Antlers' Hospice, two recent classics of catharsis made by accident, out of necessity. Last year, Baker moved away from Memphis to study literature, Spanish, and secondary education at Middle Tennessee State University, leaving behind her band Forrister. With no friends or bandmates, Baker wrote alone about being alone, and the heavy, self-reflective thoughts one has when alone. She recorded demos, which led to her finding a producer and making an album that she thought only her friends back home would hear. Turns out the audience for her grappling with mortality, addiction, and loss of faith was a bit bigger than she imagined — and for good reason: Sprained Ankle will break your heart at least once, you know, if you are prone to such reactions.

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Analyzed folder: /Users/Leonid/Desktop/Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle - 2015
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DR Peak RMS Filename
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DR9 -3.58 dB -14.65 dB 01 Blacktop.mp3
DR10 -1.54 dB -13.63 dB 02 Sprained Ankle.mp3
DR7 -1.17 dB -12.02 dB 03 Brittle Boned.mp3
DR8 -1.37 dB -13.66 dB 04 Everybody Does.mp3
DR8 -1.36 dB -11.76 dB 05 Good News.mp3
DR8 -1.42 dB -12.14 dB 06 Something.mp3
DR6 -1.43 dB -12.02 dB 07 Rejoice.mp3
DR9 -1.44 dB -14.17 dB 08 Vessels.mp3
DR9 -1.41 dB -14.64 dB 09 Go Home.mp3
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Number of files: 9
Official DR value: DR8