Julien Baker's "Distant Solar Systems" Is Fittingly Taking Our Feelings into Orbit

So, Julien Baker's just going to keep breaking our hearts until the end of time, huh? The Memphis singer/songwriter released "Funeral Pyre," a song that distills the sweeping guitars of Explosions in the Sky into the scope of a four-minute song, in January as the first part of a 7" single. We now have the B-side, and, if anything, it's even more overwhelming than the A-side. "Distant Solar Systems" is spare and pretty, finding Baker comparing a fireworks display to the birth of the universe, prompting an extended meditation on history, humanity, and God. It's all set to to a gentle, country-ish melody and builds to a quiet but reverential choral finale. You can listen to "Distant Solar Systems" below.

Phil is a Noisey staff writer. He's on Twitter.