On her new album Turn Out The Lights, Julien Baker wrestles with a deep-seated conviction that she’s the sole ruiner of her own world. She punches walls, hangs around with demons, and tells the listener, in all seriousness, “I know that I’m evil.” It must be exhausting to play the villain in the songs you sing to strangers every night, but that doesn’t stop the 21-year-old Memphis singer-songwriter from doing it. It doesn’t even stop her from waking up early on tour. “I’m an early riser,” Baker tells me over Skype from a hotel room in North Dakota, sipping coffee.

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Baker is the sort of performer who can cast a hush over the chattiest venues. Like Cat Power and Perfume Genius before her, she writes in a mode of exquisite sadness, her failures and frustrations laid bare in a weathered timbre over simple chord progressions. Her 2015 debut full-length Sprained Ankle, which was originally uploaded to Bandcamp, documented her struggles with mental illness, substance abuse, and faith. “I wish I could quit but I can’t stand the shakes,” she sang on album standout “Rejoice.” One of the hardest things about making her second record, out in October on legendary indie label Matador, was staying just as candid now that she knows people are listening.