Artist Spotlight: Joel Baker

Shot by @allthingscommon

Nottingham born singer/songwriter Joel Baker has released his debut album Hush Now My Fears, a collection of fragmented impressions and thoughts from Joel as he pens down his life experiences during a period where he found himself at a crossroads.

The first time I heard Joel’s voice was on Bag of Dreams back in 2017 and a lot has changed both for him and myself. However, he still wears his heart on his sleeve and his art still resides despite the change of topic to a more grown mature feel, providing that a mark of a great artist is being able to grow with their fans.

Joel is bright and infectious but also deeply introspective at times as we go into a different range of topics relating to his artistry, personal life and the album. Hush Now My Fears is definitely a project where Joel has had a lot to unburden.

I didn’t realise that this was your debut project coming out. I first started listening to you roughly in 2016/17 when Bags of Dreams came out and it feels like you’ve been around for a minute.

Yeah, I signed a record deal around those sorts of times. The plan was to release a bunch of EP’s up until an album but it was just badly managed. It could have been sick, but it was just one of those classic things where the A&R left about six months in, and it was like 'oh what do we do now.

But yeah man I’ve been doing my thing for a bit, but it’s never really been the right time to release an album before. We sort of cobbled together some songs from the record deal and nearly released an album, shot the front cover and got everything ready but last minute we canned it. Weirdly now, even though it’s been long it sort of feels like the right kind of time. I appreciate you listening to ’Bag of Dreams’ . I still love that tune.

Speaking of ‘Bag Of Dreams’ it’s quite interesting to see/hear how you’ve changed in terms of going from the dreamer chase  to your album. The album is hard to describe but I’d stay it’s quite wholesome, warm and even folksy and very mature.

Thank you so much man, It’s like growing up isn’t it. I feel that most of the stuff that I’ve put out has reflected where I’ve been at that time and yeah ‘Bag of Dreams’ era was definitely I’m going to make it at all costs. This album is kind of like what happens when everything falls apart? What do you do then?

I kind of had to find myself in a new way I guess, but also just growing up and seeing things in a different way. Being married made me see things in a different way.

Structurally the album isn’t linear, it’s not the typical straight-lined A to B sort of progression. It focuses more on thoughts and feelings

I guess it kind of explores the highs and lows of life in a way. Just being broken, exhausted and even sometimes feeling like I failed but then at the same time falling in love and rebuilding a new way that I’m excited about.

I guess that’s the messy thing about life there’s always all sorts of stuff going on. It’s very non-linear in a way, like everything could fall down but now I realise how much I really got.

Is that why you named the album Hush Now My Fears ?

Yeah, in a way it acts like a ribbon and bow for the whole thing because it’s calling out the fact that there are fears. There’s sadness, there’s grief but it’s also me trying to transform those feelings into something else. I want people to see that there’s still hope. It’s not just washing it away and pretending everything’s good nah it’s embracing it instead.

It’s interesting you said that because like you said life is life and life’s hard. You mention the mourning, the stress, all the bad and uncomfortable things associated with life, and you’ve taken that and turned it into art. Isn’t that a form of poetry? Even in the album the first track can be argued is spoken word and poet Sophia Thakur is featured on a track as well. Would you be able to talk about that a bit?

Absolutely, that was one of the things that got me so excited about the album in a way and it kind of started like that because the thing that excites me the most about music is the lyrics. I grew up inside different cultures where you’re playing your track in the room and the lyrics get the reactions.

It wasn’t the melodies or the drum triplets that (lyrics) was kind of what I was formed by in many ways, I love lyrics. Something that I find very frustrating about song writing often is not being able to have enough lyrics. Melody can often be a prison in a way because you can’t always fit the lyrics in.

With that thought process how did that affect the album?

The whole album process even started when everything literally went to shit, and I ended up living with my in-laws randomly down in Devon and it was one of those situations where it wasn’t really the vibe for me where I could get the guitar out and start singing. So actually, everything sort of came out of the limitation of me not being able to sing songs. Instead, I could just sit there and write poetry. So, most mornings I would get up early go outside and start writing.

What’s been your musical influences?

I feel like I’m quite 50/50 when it comes to things that I love. I love folk music, my dad’s a huge Bob Dylan fan so I grew up with him and Lenard Cohen. The other side of me was in the playground I grew up in around that time there was a lot of American New York hip-hop. Wu Tang, Nas and I kind of loved it for the same reason that I loved folk music. Mainly the storytelling and imagery. I would just go to bed with headphones in just listening to these records. They took me away to a completely different place.

The album is quite personal. You touch on the relationship you have with your home and your family. Was it difficult cutting that deep?

Kind of yeah, sometimes it’s therapeutic to go so deep. I don’t think there’s anything in particular that I’m worried about but there’s a lot of stuff that still tiggers me when I listen to it. But I feel like that's what I try and search out for when I’m writing. I aim to hit those nerves and I start feeling uncomfortable saying that I'm sick. I found it. And I don’t always get there but it’s what I’m always looking for it

That must be quite exhausting though, the whole creativity process 

It’s exhausting but freeing like I need to do it otherwise I’ll go mad. Certain times I don’t, even at the moment things are a lot calmer in my life and I think these are the times when I have to collaborate more with other people. Particularly when I was in the process of writing this album, there was a lot to get off my chest.

What is the takeaway message from Hush Now My Fears?

I feel that the conclusion is all in the last song. If someone was like what’s the album about, I’d be like play the last song and hear the whole story in terms of I came here with nothing, I’ve left with nothing managed to find something better and then my best friend fucking died and messed me up completely. 

But somehow on this waterslide we’re heading somewhere good, and I don’t even know why. More than ever, I feel like there’s this arch of hope and justice and things are going to be already, but you have to befriend the pain first.