Julien Baker and Torres - Send A Prayer My Way (Album Review)

Photo: Ebru Yildiz

Country’s moment in the mainstream is ongoing, whether it’s Beyoncé and Post Malone’s forays into the genre or, more recently, Chappell Roan’s dalliance with her single The Giver. But as with any changing of the guard, sometimes our pursuit of the new can make us overlook the beauty of what made the old great; when the right chord progression or turn of phrase could elicit a feeling that resonated beyond a record’s end.

Julien Baker and Torres’ Mackenzie Scott grew up deep in the American south, and ‘Send A Prayer My Way’ is a record by musicians who are well versed in country’s twists and turns. But they approach the style from a pointed perspective, having felt that they would be excluded from its orbit in their formative years due to their sexuality and country’s roots in religion. A valid assumption, it seems, given that the duo received a death threat on a promotional post for the LP.

It’s ironic considering the pair have their own religious ties, made clear by references littered throughout the album. The subject is tackled head on with Tuesday, which finds Scott recalling a rough story from her younger years, when her friend’s mother found out the singer was gay and reacted with abhorrent bigotry.  It led to her self-harming for the first time, but it also made her realise, “I am perfect in my Lord’s eyes.”

By embracing one of the true cornerstones of country — namely the ability to make the personal feel universal — Baker and Scott have crafted a beautiful collection that delivers the genre’s well-worn tropes with a fresh outlook, offering bar-stool wisdom and sincere emotion in candid, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, lyrics that always hit the mark. “I care too much for my own good, I got a dog in each and every fight,” Scott sings on Bottom Of A Bottle, a song that perfectly illustrates how the pair are able to capture your attention with words that feel familiar and bitingly relevant all at once. 

Understatement is the name of the game here, with any extra instrumentation alongside its guitars and drums always enhancing and never overpowering the melodies. Like the spaces left to allow a note to ring out, the lyrical mix of sincerity and joviality finds the one enhancing the other, with the clouds of sombre moments lifted by lighthearted jibes. There’s little reliance on bombastic choruses or overblown production, with songs such as Dirt showing how the minimal use of strings can be used to maximum effect. 

But that’s not to say ‘Send A Prayer My Way’ is one note. Tape Runs Out swells to a climactic, rock jam and Sugar In The Tank, which earned them the Instagram comment “this song is unreal” from Brandi Carlile, is a masterclass in musicality that will burrow its way into your subconscious after just one play.

It’s only because tracks like these are so impeccably written and seemingly effortless in their delivery that a song such as Off The Wagon, where Baker’s words lag rather than flow, feel like minor works in comparison. But, hand on heart, there isn’t a bad note struck here, and even that song finishes with a great instrumental. Just like the lives they write about, strengths live alongside weaknesses on ‘Send A Prayer My Way’.

More Reviews from Laura Johnson

Japandroids - Fate & Alcohol

Dream Nails - Doom Loop

Speedy Ortiz - Rabbit Rabbit

Bully - Lucky For You

CVC - Get Real

Demi Lovato - Holy Fvck

Lizzo - Special

Orville Peck - Bronco

Camp Cope - Running With The Hurricane

Alice Glass - PREY//IV

Idles - Crawler

Self Esteem - Prioritise Pleasure

Related News

Wed 16 Apr 2025

Julien Baker And Torres Share Video For New Single Bottom Of A Bottle