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For an artist who has yet to reach her 26th birthday, Julien Baker has done a lot of soul searching. “Little Oblivions” is her third albumand she continues with the confessional tone of her first two but with a difference, she’s incorporating a lot more sonic intensity to these personal disclosures.

Baker plays all the instruments on the album while doubling down on the theme of blaming herself for all her faults. The new arrangements add a rhythm section to her songs for the first time, guaranteeing that the next time she performs it won’t be as subdued.

The only other musicians besides her producer is a reunion of the trio she formed last year with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus called Boy Genius. Their fragile harmonies are reunited on one of the tracks.

Mental health issues, relapses into substance abuse and many other frustrating missteps so dominate the lyrical barrage on “Little Oblivions” that it feels at times she being too hard on herself. But then, if not for that dynamic, where would these magnificently relatable songs come from?