Memphis Artist Julien Baker Heading To New Zealand In July

Memphis singer-songwriter Julien Baker has announced an Auckland sideshow coming off-the-back of her appearance at Byron's Bays Splendour In The Grass festival in July. The 21-year-old artist, who has a penchant for penning heart-wrenching yet cathartic tunes, recently signed to Matador Records to release her Funeral Pyre 7-inch, which follows on from her debut album Sprained Ankle that was self-released in 2015. Baker's upcoming appearance at The Tuning Fork will be her first time performing on New Zealand soil and from all accounts it will be a show not-to-be-missed. Here are the details...

Julien Baker
Sunday 23rd July, The Tuning Fork, Auckland

Here's the video for 'Sprained Ankle' lifted from Julien's debut album of the same name...

PRESS RELEASE:

The Tuning Fork is proud to announce the debut New Zealand show for Memphis songstress Julien Baker at Auckland's Great South Pacific Tuning Fork on Sunday 23 July.

21-year old guitarist, engineer and singer/songwriter Julien Baker has had a remarkable couple of years and it is safe to say she is on a roll. Baker’s signature sound is deeply poetic, heartbreaking and raw. Her debut album, Sprained Ankle, released in 2015 is a memorable nine-tack gem of austere indie-folk filled with melancholic beauty. The recipient of considerable critical acclaim, this album pushed her into the limelight landing her in Rolling Stone’s “10 New Artists You Need to Know: November 2015”.

Putting her English major at Middle Tennessee State University on hold to tour the world, she recently signed with legendary indie record label Matador, home to prominent artists such as Yo La Tengo, Cat Power and Interpol, among many others. Sprained Ankle was re-released via Matador on 17 March and includes a previously unreleased single “Funeral Pyre,” which Baker debuted in her NPR Tiny Desk Concert. “Funeral Pyre” is also the title-track and A-side for Baker’s new single also released on the 17 March which contains another previously unreleased track; “Distant Solar System”.

Fresh from her performance at Splendour in the Grass performance in Australia, Kiwi fans will finally have the chance to listen live to Baker’s spine-tingling songs from her debut album Sprained Ankle, as well as new material including tracks such as “Funeral Pyre” and “Distant Solar Systems”. Don’t miss out on what will be a very special performance from this gifted singer/songwriter this July.

“The Memphis-based artist is able to compress a wide spectrum of emotions and many flavors of sadness into her compositions, and her lyrics are at once photorealistic and abstract” - Pitchfork

“It’s easy to feel, watching her, as if you have walked in on a private act, a girl and her guitar in secret communion. She makes you feel like an interloper, eavesdropping on someone else’s prayers” – The New Yorker

“Her hushed vocals are full of fragility and vulnerability, but often crescendo into strength and resilience”. – Paste Magazine

JULIEN BAKER
THE GREAT SOUTH PACIFIC TUNING FORK
SUNDAY 23 JULY 2017

MyTicketmaster presale Friday 28 April, 11am
General onsale, Monday 1 May, 9am