Re-issue: Julien Baker - Appointments

Song Exploder

Hrishikesh Hirway

Music

4.8 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2023

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, I wanted to go back and revisit an older episode. I recorded an interview with singer and songwriter Julien Baker in 2018. It was a few months after her second album came out. Since then, she’s put out another solo album, called Little Oblivions, which was critically acclaimed. And now she’s also a member of boygenius, which is the supergroup made up of Julien, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. They’ve put out an EP and then, earlier this year, they put out their first full-length. Julien is a really interesting artist, and I think her songwriting is just heartbreaking, especially the song she takes apart for her episode. Here it is:

Julien Baker is from Memphis, Tennessee. She released her second album, Turn Out The Lights, in October 2017, on Matador Records. The New York Times called her music "devastating" and Pitchfork gave the album Best New Music. In this episode, Julien tells the story of her song "Appointments," and how writing it helped her work through her thoughts around addiction, depression, and relationships. Julien also takes apart the track “Over,” which was written as part of “Appointments,” but then split off as a separate track.

For more, visit songexploder.net/julien-baker.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishikesh, hereway.
0:11.0	This week I wanted to go back and revisit an older episode. I recorded in an interview with singer and songwriter Julian Baker in 2018.
0:18.0	There was a few months after a second album came out.
0:21.0	Since then, she's put out another solo album called Little Oblivians, which was critically acclaimed.
0:26.0	And now she's also a member of Boy Genius, which is the supergroup made up of Julian, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Deicas.
0:32.0	They've put out an EP and then earlier this year they put out their first full length.
0:36.0	Julian Baker's a really interesting artist and I think her songwriting is just heartbreaking, especially the song she takes apart for her episode. Here it is.
0:46.0	Julian Baker is from Memphis, Tennessee. She released her second album, Turn Out the Lights, in October 2017.
0:55.0	The New York Times called her music devastating and Pitchfork gave the album Best New Music.
1:00.0	In this episode, Julian tells the story of her song Appointments and how writing it helped her work through her thoughts around addiction, depression, and relationships.
1:09.0	Julian also takes apart the track over, which was originally written as part of Appointments, but then was split off as a separate track.
1:31.0	I'm Julian Baker.
1:34.0	Do you ever think to say something and then you know that you should not say that thing out loud?
1:39.0	When that happens to me or I know that a thought is irrational, I'll just save it and explore it in a song.
1:44.0	Like I've felt an inadequacy and like an imposter syndrome when I would talk to my friends or when I would be at a party just standing around.
1:53.0	I would just have this bizarre paranoia though. Like I'm not what any of these people wanted and I'm disappointing and I'm letting everyone down.
2:00.0	And that recurring thought was I think probably the first idea that cropped up in my brain for Delirics.
2:08.0	I know that I'm not what you wanted.
2:11.0	I know that I'm not what you wanted.
2:17.0	Am I?
2:22.0	Appointments materialized around the weeks in which I was starting to figure out ways to be more proactive about dealing with recovery and mental health.
2:35.0	I actually go into therapy and actually taking care of myself.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Hrishikesh Hirway, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Hrishikesh Hirway and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.