Julien Baker's original version of "Good News," recorded for her gracefully devastating 2015 LP Sprained Ankle, was a forceful drone of harmonies and two-string guitar chords. It was a song about death and cigarettes, Baker taking a step back and staring at her own morbid fixations, her voice crackling out of whispers and fighting over the repetition. There was a sense that it could have gone either way: succumbing to the clatter, or gently rising out of some impending chaos.This afternoon, Baker released a re-recorded version of "Good News" as the 62nd installment in the consistently fascinating Our First 100 Days series. This time, there's no layered guitar or insistent harmony; it's just Baker and a piano, delicately smashing your heart into a thousand pieces with a small, ornate hammer.Listen to the track below and read our Noisey Next feature on Baker right here.
Advertisement
Follow Noisey on Twitter.