Sprained Ankle (album)

Development

The songs on Sprained Ankle were written by Baker while she was at MTSU. She thought that they didn't "fit the vibe of Forrister" and didn't intend to release them as an album while writing. Her friend, Michael Hegner, had free time at MTSU's studio and offered to record her songs. They made a demo, Hegner liked it, and they kept working together. In the summer of 2014, they decided to take a road trip to Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia where Hegner was interning to record it. In an interview with The Blue Indian, Baker said that "it was recorded really sparsely and efficiently to get the most out of the time there, which contributed to the way the songs come across." The songs “Vessels” and “Brittle Boned” were later recorded by her friend, Toby Landers and added to the album.

The record was first released as an EP on Bandcamp in the winter of 2014. Its first cover art was designed by Baker and a friend. People started sharing the record, then Baker toured it and sold CDs. 6131 Records liked her work and decided to sign her. The record was taken down from Bandcamp on advice from Baker's label so it could be mastered and formally released.

Critical reception

The mastered versions of the songs "Sprained Ankle" (title track), "Something", and "Brittle Boned" premiered in advance on NPR's All Songs Considered, Stereogum, and Nylon respectively. Sprained Ankle was re-release in October 2015 through 6131 Records. The Sabyn Mayfield-directed music video for "Sprained Ankle" was released on October 26. It charted on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums at number 25 for the week of November 14.

Gabriela Tully Claymore from Stereogum wrote the songs were "unabashedly explicit, and Sprained Ankle discusses depression, substance abuse, and general crises of faith in detail." On the guitar playing, Ian Cohen of Pitchfork wrote that "[Baker is] a minimalist, playing bassy clusters of melodic thirds, flicking silvery harmonics, [and] palm-muting chords." It was recorded in a way that Adam Kevil from Consequence of Sound considers to be a simple format, "[Baker] alone, singing and playing acoustic guitar directly into the microphone, sometimes in a single take" he wrote.

Track listing

All tracks written by Julien Baker.

Personnel

Credits for Sprained Ankle adapted from 6131 Records' website. and AllMusic.