Julien Baker & Torres – Send a Prayer My Way: :: Ondarock reviews

The collaboration between Julien Baker and Torres is not due to a favorable moment of the US record market for country music after the turning point of Beyoncé, “F-1 Trillion” and the announced wool album of Rey. The choice of the two artists to compose a collection of country songs dates back to 2020, well before the revival of the last two to three years. “Send a Prayer My Way” lives rather as the same intentions as the Plains debut: recovering their roots southerndialogue with traditional music and, if possible, innovate it from the inside. But for a duo of musicians queer Obtaining a genre that in many of its popular and populist variations is often close to the most reactionary political fringes is obviously also a political message. Especially when, like today, the rights of the LGBTQ+ communities are increasingly questioned, in the United States as well as in Europe (on the continent and not). “That It Can't Get Much Worse Depends on Who You're Asking”, in fact sing the two artists in “Showdown”.

However, on closer inspection in “Send a Prayer My Way” by Pure Country there is very little: only the song at the Pardon “The Only Marble I've Left” and the country-pop of “Goodbye baby”. Of course, there are the banjo, the violin and the classic Pedal Steel Guitarbut stylistically Baker and Scott look to the altrotry, to theOutlaw Country and to the American meadows. “Bottom of a Bottle” recalls for example the recent Waxahatchee works, but there are also “Downhill Both Ways” and “Off the Wagon” which, despite the different instrumentation, remain in all respects of the Ballen Folk at the Baker, also for the thematic consonance with its songbook (in particular, the description of dependencies on substances and alcohol).

The final part of “Send a Prayer My Way” contains two excellent songs by Torres. “Sylvia”, dedicated to the dog of the singer -songwriter, moves in its simplicity, while “Tuesday”, with her affabulatory afflatus, is the most articulated song of the collection. Halfway between training narration and autobiography, the song re -elaborates with frankness and irony the memory of a possible loving relationship between two young girls, however hindered by the bigoted and homophobic mother of Tesday.

Well, Her Mama Caught Wind That Her Daughter's Friend
Might Be of the Wrong Persuasion
Next Thing I know, Her Mama's Calling, Telling Her Daughter
Just the Thought of It Made Her Sick Over the toilet
Instead of Backing Me Up, Tuesday Melted Right Down
Asked Me to Write Her Mother and Say, Sorry for the Confusion
That of course there had been no sin
Tor Emphasize How Much I love Jesus and Men

The lyrical self is also confronted with the shame and inadequacy experienced by a teenager, but finds thanks to the rewriting of one's past the force for self -determination and to completely turn the perspective.

No, I cannot believe that i stepped down and lied
I Should Have Told You I Loved You
And now i know this shame was not mine
And I Am Perfect in My Lord's Eyes
For decade, the Let You Live in My Head
But with this exorcism, I put our story to bed
And one More Thing, If You Ever Hear This Song
Tell your mama she can go suck an egg

The collection of Julien Baker and Torres is therefore not the attempt to exploit a lucky contingency for country music. Indeed, in the contemporary context an ethical and political value assumes that in 2020 the two artists had not imagined. On the other hand, in order to resist the oppression and dismantling in place of the civil rights achieved with the blood and the suffering of generations, it does not necessarily need to be transformed into a group Protest Punk iconoclastic. Sometimes the same expressive force may have the very fact of getting on stage and exposing itself by singing one's personal experience. And, why not, also by transforming a Honky-Mark any in a Safe Space For those who are the victim of discrimination and thus strengthen the community roots through a perfectly choreographed group dance. In the end “Sugar in the tank” became a half hit country: the resistance continues and also passes from here.

21/04/2025