Julien Baker is an appreciated American singer and songwriter, born with a guitar in the hands and the passion for alternative rock. She has become a point of reference in the folk panorama passing through the first experiments on Bandcamp to a couple of interesting albums (Sprained Ankle in 2015 and Turn Out the Lights in 2017 out for Matador). After opening for bands like Death Cab For Cutie and Belle And Sebastian she formed Boygenius with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. A woman in control of her possibilities, always on the move in search of the best way to express feelings and tell stories of the deep America.
Torres is a force of nature. Mackenzie Ruth Scott (her real name) has affirmed herself in the indie rock scenario thanks to some brilliant albums, from Torres (2013) to the last What an enormous room (2024) in which she experiments sounds, electronics and melodic plots with kindness and power together. A woman in search of an identity and of new points of reference to express her view about living in a strange place as America.
“We Should make a country album”. After a live show together in 2016, this is the phrase that started a collaboration that brings to Send a Prayer My Way, out for Matador. Country music could unite together the individual attitude to sing dreams and disillusions of normal people living their real life: to stay attached to reality, express the need to be united in these deflagrant times, reaffirm roots and hopes. With this album we are far from the lacquered pop country by Beyonce or Taylor Swift’s postcard-country. With Send A Prayer My Way we are in front of the essentiality and authenticity of an empathic way of expression, with a gentle and luminous touch differentiating it from the suffering alt-country by Bonnie Prince Billy or Matt Sweeny.
The opening “Dirt” lives thanks to a delicate acoustic guitar arpeggio, while Baker sings with her gentle voice and a violin appears to underline the atmosphere. Torres joins and the songs arrives to its apex. In its plot you can imagine tender nights spent in front of a crackling fire. The following “The Only Marble I’ve Got Left” has a classical country structure lead by Torres and her guitar caressed in a round of chords, renewing the value of a promise of love: “I’ll keep your vase full of fresh flowers And I’ll meet you eye to eye, I’ll love on your parents and never tell a lie, I’ll keep the tables turning and I’ll always do my best To hold on tight to the only marble I’ve got left.” “Sugar in the Tank” is a poignant ballad with guitar and banjo, Baker’s voice makes the lyrics soft as cotton and the refrain in chorus restores the intensity of the song; if you like Angel Olsen you will be satisfied. “Off The Wagon” is slow, caressed by a docile violin e da restless guitars and offers a view of what life means with all its imperfections: “It makes sense to want to feel good, It makes sense to want not to feel, They say living is something that you choose But it makes sense with no chips left to lose”. Every song is a caress, a story to be told in the dark of a tender night.
Maybe Sand A Prayer My Way represents the return to the origins of American culture in a moment in which the basis of American society are questioned. Musically the album is a warm embrace and it is enough to give it a space in your life.
