Fruit Bats – Baby Man

Description

Baby Man, the new album by Fruit Bats, is like nothing else in Grammy-nominated songwriter Eric D. Johnsons catalog. Little in the arc of his careerincluding Fruit Bats evolution from home recording project to rollicking roadshow, his solo output, and his work with Bonny Light Horsemanpoints the way to this album, in which his only accompaniment, aside from the occasional blush of synthesizer, is a guitar, banjo, or piano. Save for producer Thom Monahan, reuniting with Johnson for the first time since Fruit Bats 2019 breakthrough Gold Past Life, its just Johnson in the room. When the turntables needle meets Baby Mans groove, its just him and the listener, mutually in for a reckoning.

Monahans return to the booth was vital: having mapped the outer limits of Eric D. Johnsons musical imagination, nobody was better equipped for the deepest trip yet into his soul. Baby Man is an intimate album, but rather than deliver a stripped-down or back-to-basics approach to the Fruit Bats sound, its introspection is rendered at epic scale. Its minimalist-maximalism, Johnson says of his and Monahans approach. There are fewer tracks on each songfour or five at most, compared to recent albums where thered maybe be five tracks on a song just for synthsbut this is me at my most hi-fi.

What he and Monahan do to striking effect on Baby Man is explore the full power and range of his voice. Pushed forward in the mix, Johnsons vocalsa showstopping element of his crafthave new purpose and depth on Baby Man, breathing life into some of the rawest songs hes ever written into being, actively finding the heart in the lyrics sometimes just hours after theyd been penned. A text sent to Monahan one morningIm just trying to write a couple more songslater becomes the first line of Puddle Jumper, a finger-picked heartbreaker whose only competition for the crown of Most Emotionally Devastating Fruit Bats Song is the other eight Johnson originals on this album.