On Ship a Prayer My Approach, Julien Baker and Mackenzie Scott, who performs as Torres, are falling off the wagon and looking at its wheels; they’re reckoning with remorse; they’re wrestling hateful moms. Longtime listeners of the 2 artists know that they usually lay their struggles on the forefront of their music, from prying at faith to coming to phrases with queerness to trying up from a bottle’s backside.
However right here, they arrive at these themes from a special approach. About 5 years in the past, Scott floated the idea of a rustic file to Baker, a la Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings—and was stunned when she stated sure. “I used to be fearful that Julien would say no, and I can’t stand rejection,” Scott instructed Backyard & Gun. “So I framed it as, ‘Wouldn’t that be hilarious if we made a rustic file?’ And Julien was like, ‘Oh, hell yeah, I’m gonna ship you some demos.’”
Nation music performed a formative function in each singers’ lives: Scott grew up in Georgia, surrounded by church music and ’90s nation; Baker grew up in Tennessee on a gentle eating regimen of Merle Haggard and George Jones. (You’ll be able to try the duo’s “Cuntry” playlists to see some lasting favorites.) However for the size of their respective careers, they’ve caught to the rock/indie nexus.
Ship a Prayer My Approach, the results of their nation collaboration, is an examination of faith, medication, and love set in working-class Southern neighborhoods—each a tribute to their upbringings and an effort to reimagine the style. At instances, the mix of their particular person rock kinds with nation creates one thing contemporary, however some efforts really feel extra pastiche than creative.
The album’s obsessive about love, in each iteration—and the way a lot you can also make peace with it. Scott opens “Tuesday,” a slow-moving and tender paean to the titular girl, with adoration. However because the track reveals itself to be about queer want, it additionally reveals the challenges its narrator faces: the hateful response from her crush’s mom and the mournful self-excoriation that outcomes, all grounded by Baker’s accompaniment on a resonant dobro. “Sugar within the Tank,” in the meantime, is nothing if not confident. As Baker repeats “I really like you” at the beginning of every line, underscored by banjo and a Hammond organ, the track ramps up in ardour, insistent and rollicking. When it breaks into the refrain, the pair’s voices come collectively, their twangy vocals layering in an earnest and sincere country-pop aspect with tongue-in-cheek sultriness (“Put a bit sugar within the tank,” a nod to queerness too) that cools down cleanly on “I’ll love you all the best way.” They thread basic imagery beside the love declarations: They’re “tied up on the practice tracks,” “strung out on the drying rack,” and “sitting exterior with the engine runnin’.”
