Who is the Baker?

Laura Barrett is back with her second solo album. A concise, contemplative collection of eight piano and voice songs, Who Is The Baker? finds Barrett at her most minimalist and wistful; it’s the perfect soundtrack to city strolls and foil for the hectic pace of daily life.

It takes courage to sustain the earnest, reflective and open tone Barrett creates, her voice perfectly unvarnished, by turns wry, plaintive and willowy sombre as she explores her relationships with people, Toronto, and grief and loss.

This album marks Barrett’s return as a songwriter, and the culmination of a long journey back to the piano, recording on four pianos, including Union Sound’s fabled grand piano, once played by Oscar Peterson. Guest accompaniment includes Dana Snell, and Karen Ng. Recorded with Don Kerr at his Toronto Rooster Studio, mixed and mastered by L. Stu Young (Prince).

Over the past decade Barrett’s made a name for herself as an in-demand composer for film and theatre, credits including Porch Stories (2015) and Birdland (2018), both with José Contreras (By Divine Right), music-directed for Becky Johnson’s improvised series Wayward, and has toured in Sheezer and The Hidden Cameras and solo, supporting The Magnetic Fields. A lifelong Torontonian, Barrett hit the scene in the mid aughts as a kalimba player, weaving haunting sci-fi tales of robot ponies on her 2005 debut Earth Sciences, followed by Ursula EP (2007), and Victory Garden (2008 Paper Bag Records), an ambitious, eclectically orchestral LP.

Tracklisting:

1. Eek!
2. Just the Same as Always
3. The Humble Fawn
4. Who is the Baker?
5. YVR
6. Where I'm From
7. No Crime in Loving
8. What Happens to Us in the Future

Catalogue No: PAPER119
Release Date: July 26, 2019