Julien Baker and TORRES’ New Single ‘Dirt’ Unites Country With Raw Lyricism

Julien Baker and TORRES’ fourth single from upcoming album ‘Send A Prayer My Way’ -‘Dirt’ seamlessly combines folk vulnerability with a country twang through experimental and creative instrumentals.

Reminiscent of singer Adrianne Lenker, Baker and TORRES’ raw lyricism - exemplified in lyrics such as “Spend your whole life getting clean / Just to wind up in the dirt” provoke heartache while intertwining delicate musicality. Both artist’s previous alternative indie-folk backgrounds are brought to light, more so than other singles ‘Tuesday’ and ‘Sugar In The Tank’. Nonetheless, country elements are effortlessly introduced. Creating warmth and comforting melancholia through effortless guitar picking and building strings which juxtapose the vulnerable lyrics, written by Baker, a defining feature of her previous solo work.

Initially, Baker leads the vocals, however, TORRES’ gentle harmonies build throughout, climaxing at her eventual lead vocals in the final verse of the track. The delicately crafted journey throughout the songs stripped back, story-like narrative follows the turbulence of being in a relationship with a difficult partner (“But all that you can take never feels like enough”). Baker aligns with the storyline of giving more than you receive in a relationship.

Despite ‘Dirt’ being one of the initial releases from the duo’s first project together, the five years the album spent in the making are easily evident in its rich, layered sound and organic emotional depth

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Talia Burnton

@taliarioburnton

Image: Ebru Yildiz

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