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The lineup is set. See what's next for 88Nine's State of Sound.

Julien Baker, a faith healer, of sorts

Some years ago, at a Christian writing conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 20 year old Julien Baker made a power point presentation about how hardcore music was an analogue to the tenets of the gospel.

While she was there, she met poet Hanif Abdurraqib. One time, I took a picture of Hanif Abdurraqib reading poetry at Eaux Claires Festival as Julien Baker played guitar in the background of that performance. I'm also a Hanif stan, and a Julien stan. After their meet up at this Christian writing conference the two kept in touch and Hanif wrote the beautiful bio to Julien's new record, "Faith Healer." Hanif writes:

"Put most simply, I think that “Faith Healer” is a song about vices, both the obvious and the more insidious ways that they show up in the human experience. I started writing this song two years ago and it began as a very literal examination of addiction. For awhile, I only had the first verse, which is just a really candid confrontation of the cognitive dissonance a person who struggles with substance abuse can feel — the overwhelming evidence that this substance is harming you, and the counterintuitive but very real craving for the relief it provides. When I revisited the song I started thinking about the parallels between the escapism of substance abuse and the other various means of escapism that had occupied a similar, if less easily identifiable, space in my psyche.

There are so many channels and behaviors that we use to placate discomfort unhealthily which exist outside the formal definition of addiction. I (and so many other people) are willing to believe whomever — a political pundit, a preacher, a drug dealer, an energy healer — when they promise healing, and how that willingness, however genuine, might actually impede healing."

In our interview, Julien Baker talks about the conference, Hanif, faith, Twitter and her favorite band, mewithoutyou.