Little Oblivions
| Julien Baker
Little Oblivions
Little Oblivions is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Julien Baker, released on February 26, 2021.Alongside the album's announcement, Baker released "Faith Healer" as the first single from the album. Little Oblivions is a departure from the acoustic alt folk of her first two albums. It features a full band sound, played almost entirely by Julien herself, with genres encompassing indie rock, alternative rock, emo, soft rock, electronic music, pop punk, post-rock, country, shoegaze, and slowcore. The album received "universal acclaim" from critics. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
What results is a fully realized artistic statement without a skippable track, even if a few songs trail off a bit toward the end — almost as if Baker knows the rush of cathartic energy has left everyone involved a little exhausted, including herself. And that’s just fine, because this is enough reality for a lifetime, let alone one record.
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Pitchfork
On her third album, Julien Baker’s self-lacerating storytelling gets a more expansive canvas to work with. The big, full-band sound makes all the small moments of pain surreptitiously devastating.
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Slate
A powerful album that dives into the wreck of relationships, substance abuse, and religious doubt with glorious results.
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The Crimson
All in all, Julien Baker produced another incredible album. As she embraces and moves forward with the new band-like sound, it will hopefully into something as beautiful and intimate as “Sprained Ankle” with the added benefits of a more all-encompassing listening experience and the intimacy of Baker’s lived experiences paired with new instrumentation.
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Variety
It’s a rare artist who can create an album that you could put on and only occasionally notice the horrors lurking in its lyrics — and “Little Oblivions” proves more than ever that Julien Baker is a rare artist indeed.
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Sputnik Music
It's not comforting to imagine the kind of tragedies we might have to live through before Little Oblivions rings out with the clarity and power of her early work, but god knows Julien Baker will be adept as ever at having exactly the right words to assure us we're not alone.
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Paste Magazine
Even with booming guitars, pounding drums and soaring instrumentals, Little Oblivions feels just as intimate as Baker’s more, well, intimate albums. It’s an impossible task to make a massive capital-R Rock album sound just as home in an arena as it would in a living room, but somehow, some way, Baker has managed to crack the code.
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The Guardian
The writing here is bleak, self-excoriating and largely excellent.
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SLUG Magazine
Little Oblivions might be Baker’s Blonde on Blonde or Revolver. It could be a window into a vast world of creativity she has barely begun to tamper with. I was correct in my initial assessment of Julien Baker—she can do no wrong.
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The Post
Julien Baker’s ‘Little Oblivions’ is the most devastatingly beautiful album in recent memory.
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Under the Radar Magazine
Between the record’s self-inflicted barbs, there’s a quiet triumph that Baker is even here to deliver them on Little Oblivions. Baker lays open the worst of what 2019 held for her but comes out the other side roaring her pain to the heavens. Baker’s howl is ultimately the sound of a hard-won survival and there continues to be a powerful sense of hope and catharsis in that.
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NME
Unlike her earlier work, the Tennessee musician's third album features a full band, taking her anguished stories to greater heights.
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mxdwn Music
The privations and self-loathing that exist in Little Oblivions are difficult to process. The standard to which Baker has been able to reproduce her hardships to create beautiful music out of them is incredibly impressive, and her tortured musical soul is one that can only be hoped to mend itself with musical expression.
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The Young Folks
Julien Baker stuns in her strongest album to date.
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The Upcoming
Overall, Little Oblivions is an effective form of escapism with small doses of reality.
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It's All Dead
Julien has opened herself here, adding more instruments than we’ve ever seen from her — and she played everything herself. The sheer talent she holds is incredible. She has given us three albums that are pretty close to perfect in a short timespan.
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Beats Per Minute
as it is, Little Oblivions doesn’t so much feel like a step to a higher point so much as a stumble that Baker has made to look as graceful as she can.
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Uncut
Memphis songwriter’s third adds layers, loses none of its power.
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The Wall Street Journal
The 25-year-old singer-songwriter confronts her struggle with substance abuse on an album that embraces melody.
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Kill Your Stereo
‘Little Oblivions’ doesn’t hit the same way as her first two records, but that’s okay, as Julien Baker’s latest heartfelt portfolio displays an insane amount of growth for one of this generation’s defining female voices. The sheer growth in the songwriting, production and sound that Julien explores with ‘Little Oblivions’ should be applauded.
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Far Out Magazine
Not only is the album a lyrical tour de force that has a frank transparentness running triumphantly through it. The inclusion of a band is a masterstroke that lets Baker add a brand new kaleidoscope of colours to the album, which light-up the solemnity of her lyrics entrancingly.
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Slant Magazine
With Little Oblivions, Baker upgrades her erstwhile folk style to accommodate a harder rock approach, though lyrically she’s as vulnerable as ever. Like A.A. Williams, Snail Mail, and Soccer Mommy, she successfully translates her confessional tone and subject matter into melodically and atmospherically engaging songs, resulting in an album that represents a significant step for one of contemporary music’s most eloquent artists.
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Audioxide
In a way the album’s sameness is a testament to Julien Baker’s vocal delivery, which has the fluttering lightness of a spoken word poetry performance. In another, more accurate way, it shows the potential pitfalls of doing everything yourself. Like André and Andrew I have only admiration and love for Baker’s sincerity, but sincerity alone does not an album make.
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Rock Cellar Magazine
It’s a massive achievement for Julien Baker, one that will surely earn her rapturous acclaim and elevate her already well-respected profile to the next level. Much like her pal Bridgers did with 2020’s Punisher, Little Oblivions will be the “breakthrough” album for Baker, at least according to those not already innately familiar with her earlier work.
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SF Sonic
Little Oblivious is a much harder album to get into than her previous releases, these songs require repeated listens as there are so many little flourishes hidden in every corner. However, the more you listen to Little Oblivions, the more these songs grow on you. There is something so uplifting about this collection of songs, that you just keep coming back for more.
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The Appalachian
“Little Oblivions” is Baker’s most outstanding work yet. Lyrically it’s incredibly impactful, as she opens up about her deepest insecurities and struggles. Instrumentally, it’s beautifully composed and carefully crafted. “Little Oblivions” stands out strongly for its honesty and raw display of emotions, making it an incredibly memorable piece.
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Stereoboard
‘Little Oblivions’ is an ideal extension of Baker’s sound because it begins from a place of understanding. Adding a drum kit and some keys to a record is hardly revolutionary in isolation, but in context it’s something more pointed. That she can place her voice—so often isolated as the bravura anchor for her songs—in a new setting without losing its power opens up a whole new world.
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Afterglow
The singer-songwriter’s third solo album features some of her most masterful musicianship, writing, and introspection.
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Let it Happen Blog
‘Little Oblivions’, the third album from Julien Baker is her most sonically diverse to date. An artist who has always penned deeply personal songs, this time around she has given us an incredibly complex portrayal where her negative sense of self is perpetuated throughout. There is real food for thought here.
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No Ripcord
Baker's bare-faced honesty and willingness to address any sensitive subject matter is altogether inspiring regardless of how she presents these songs. And though it shouldn't be, it's comforting to hear her sort through those messy emotions.
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The Student Playlist
Embracing a bigger sound than her acutely intimate early work, ‘Little Oblivions’ serves to amplify Julien Baker’s message.
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Ben's Beat
Since so much of this album’s focus is the lyrical content, the enjoyment of it is likely going to vary highly from person to person. The musical aspects here don’t progress past the most standard traditions of indie-folk and rock patterns, but Baker’s stunning vocal and lyrical talents shine through and demonstrate that she very well might join her bandmate in the ranks of stardom.
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Hotpress
Even if we haven’t quite come to terms with it yet, Julien Baker is the artist we need in 2021. It’s been a rocky 12 months – and who knows what upheavals lie ahead? Enter the 25-year-old native of Germantown, Tennessee, whose third album amps up the angst and the heartache that were a feature of her first two records – but which also flings back the shutters and lets some light twinkle through.
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Recommended Listen
Not to be overlooked in any of this is how Little Oblivions is arguably Baker’s darkest album to date, as she exorcises her demons of addiction, bares the cross of her own human errors, and fights her damndest to avoid sinking into the void. Still, it’s also really beautiful and somehow “bright” in all of its brokenness.
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The Skinny
Julien Baker's third album, Little Oblivions, is a record of often intense, sometimes perilously dark, self-reflection.
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Stack
The quality and scope of production has increased, however Baker’s emotive songwriting remains her greatest asset as she writes about everyday life with a striking poetry.
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The Mic Magazine
Ultimately, the album showcases the redeeming power of sad songs. To hear someone else battle with life and still create some kind of cathartic relief empowers all of us who are also struggling. The album provides comfort as Baker takes us on her own journey of self-destruction. Baker demonstrates that, despite life being thrown at us far too turbulently at times, there can be moments of beautiful chaos and quiet stillness, that we are still united and remain strong through it all.
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The Needle Drop
Though it boasts a grander sound than Baker's past work, Little Oblivions is laden with unremarkable indie-isms.
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Secret Meeting
Little Oblivions is an affecting album of overwhelming emotional beauty. It is a collection to be marvelled at for its openness, and one that is ready to leave a true, lasting impression.
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The Fire Note
There is one thing for certain about Little Oblivions – it firmly establishes Julien Baker as a career artist. When we look back someday this will be the album that gets the credit for pushing her to the next level!
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Belwood Music
Viewed on its own I struggle to connect with it the way I’d like to, even after giving myself the time to dig deeper beyond its flaws. Looking at it as an intermediate stage however I can certainly appreciate it as an important stepping stone for a supremely talented songwriter.
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DIY Magazine
a soundtrack for those searching for hope in difficult times, particularly when the wider world has removed easy distraction from the pain.
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The Line of Best Fit
Julien Baker has delivered music so full of emotional clarity that it seems a miracle that she survived its creation. Little Oblivions leaves questions unanswered and epiphanies freshly discovered and displays the beautiful moments the ugly times keep quietly hidden.
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Backseat Mafia
Little Oblivions is a 12-track personal, uncontrived masterpiece that is simple in it’s wording but emotionally complex in its creation. This album has recast Julien Baker from a popular indie-folk singer to one of the best artists of her time.
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Treblezine
Listening to this album requires as rigorous a self-examination, and hopefully self-acceptance, on our part as Baker does in writing it. We do look just like her, beautiful in all our imperfection.
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Riff Magazine
Julien Baker has never been one to shy away from openness and vulnerability. That’s why we fell in love with her right away. Her stories are meant to be cathartic and revealing, and fortunately, as her style and fame have grown, this value remains.
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