Julien Baker and Torres – ‘Send A Prayer My Way’ album review: a duet that doesn’t connect
THE SKINNY: The classic country duet. It’s a cornerstone of the genre, done time and time again. It’s been done beautifully, historically even. June Carter and Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, George Jones and Tammy Wynette. But as Julien Baker and Torres put on their cowboy hats for Send A Prayer My Way, something doesn’t connect.
Cowboys are in right now. Queer line dancing classes are all the rage in London, CMAT continues to fly the yee-haw flag in the run-up to EURO-COUNTRY, and more and more artists are borrowing from Southern sounds, whether it be classic barn dancing hits or more angsty, gothic offerings. In film, fashion, and pop culture, cowboys are back on top. In 2023, Baker fell for the trend for the first time as they recreated scenes from Brokeback Mountain for a photoshoot with Boygenius.
But a trend is what it feels like. Despite both artists certainly being from country music country, Baker being from Tennessee and Torres being from Florida, the sound somehow doesn’t feel natural here, at least not for Baker. Maybe it’s all a matter of contextualisation. By now, the world is used to Baker’s sparse and heart-searing indie tunes or hearing them as the more classically indie-rock element of Boygenius, leaning towards the louder sounds like ‘$20’ or ‘Satanist’. Throughout the record, you yearn for that—for something more. But it stays firmly country, and largely very cliche country throughout. With no offerings on either side, only an unfaltering dedication to the aesthetic of this album, it feels unsatisfying.
Torres suits it better. The depth of their voice works so beautifully against country instrumentals but doesn’t seem to work as well against Bakers. There are few moments here where they feel like a band. They feel firmly like two soloists working together, passing songs between them, occasionally joining forces. But in the grand tradition of country duets and the chemistry and harmonies that fuel them, this new duo fail to come even close to the standard set by the best.
The point of this album remains open for ponderance. Not a single thing on this album is as good as anything on a solo Torres release or a solo Baker release. Especially in Baker’s case, there’s the question of whether they’ve got too comfortable collaborating. Having yet to return to their solo work post their big Boygenius release, is this all just procrastination?
For fans of: Donning the uniform of a cowboy while going to get an iced coffee in your big city.
A concluding comment from Julien Baker’s team: “Cool, another collab…”
Send A Prayer My Way track by track
Release date: 18th April | Producer: Julien Baker, Mackenzie Scott, Sarah Tudzin | Label: Matador
‘Dirt’: A beautiful song in the way that all Julien Baker songs are beautiful and all Torres songs are beautiful. Lyrically strong and musically lush, no one expected anything less. [3.5/5]
‘The Only Marble I’ve Got Left’: Switching the leading vocal over to TORRES, the sound gets more traditionally country. The depth of the vocals is gorgeous and velvety, but it sounds like a cover somehow. Something doesn’t connec,t as the tradition of the instrumentation feels more cliche than timeless. [3/5]
‘Sugar In The Tank’: As the opening track to this era, this also feels like the spark that started it and the best balance of the two artists’ individuality in the mix. [3.5/5]
‘Bottom Of The Bottle’: Addiction crops up time and time again in Baker’s work, especially, but this album does add a different dimension to the topic as the duo face up to the cornerstone metaphors about boozing and the classic country dive bar scenes the genre lives in. [3/5]
‘Downhill Both Ways’: By this point, I’m getting a little tired. Typically, a duet is a one-off moment on a record, or a duo feels more decidedly like a band. But as Baker and Torres always feel like two solo artists working together, it starts to feel a little exhausting,g no matter how foolproof good the songs are. [3/5]
‘No Desert Flower’: Beautiful and wistful, I do really love the slight dreaminess to this song and the heavy slide guitars. [3.5/5]
‘Off The Wagon’: I miss rockstar Julien Baker and yearn for them to pick up an electric guitar and get a little louder by this point. Anytime I think it might be coming, it is not. [2.5/5]
‘Tuesday’: I feel so tired. There is so much storytelling on this record that it ends up feeling like a slog to focus on each track. This is the worst of it, as the melody also feels thrown off by the amount they’re trying to throw into the mix. [2/5]
‘Showdown’: Come on, Julien, do something different. Please. [2/5]
‘Sylvia’: The singles we got off this album were the best of it. This almost Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young vibe track is a great one, but months after its release, it’s lost some of its impact. [3/5]
‘Goodbye Baby’: Finally, the last song. It’s a fun one that seems to be more self-aware about the fact that the two artists have basically just cosplayed as cowboys for a record. If the rest of the album had been this maximalist, I would have liked it more. [3.5/5]
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