Julien Baker & TORRES, Sugar in the Tank | Song Review 🎵

Julien Baker & TORRES make a formidable duo on their enjoyable, well-rounded debut single, “Sugar in the Tank.” 

“I love you all the way to hell and back / I love you tied up on the train tracks.” Julien Baker is an incredible singer/songwriter, period.  Once again, the Grammy winner works her magic with the single, “Sugar in the Tank”.  She collaborates with another talented singer/songwriter, TORRES (Mackenzie Scott).  Born is the formidable duo of Julien Baker & TORRES! Baker and Scott penned the epic song. Baker, Scott, and Sarah Tudzin produced it. Baker plays multiple instruments in the track (guitars, banjo, mandolin, and keys) while TORRES also plays guitars (both acoustic and electric).

“Sugar in the Tank” commences sensationally with rhythmic guitar accompaniment that sets the stone.  Soon enough, the sweet sounds of the pedal steel give the song an indisputable country vibe. Other alluring sounds that make “Sugar” a sugary, sweet, rich listening experience include the Hammond organ, fiddle, and banjo (Baker).  Nothing speaks country-western like banjo! Baker is the first voice heard. She sings clearly and beautifully: “I love you deadly as a heart attack / I love you halfway in a paper sack.” The love is easily perceptible in the first verse. Torres sings alongside Baker in the tuneful chorus:

“I love you swimming upstream in a flash flood

Wondering when I’m gonna drown

Picking up steam on the off-ramp

Getting the hell out of downtown

Let you be the chain that keeps me

Closer to the ground

I love you all of the ways

That I know how.”

There is excellent vocal chemistry between the two. Baker follows with a briefer but still potent second verse: “I love you all the way / Down to the last drag / I’ll love you strung out on the drying rack.” Post-second verse, the chorus lyrics change but the effect, theme, and vocal chemistry remain the same.  A lovely instrumental interlude follows the second chorus, led by a sweet guitar solo. The third and final chorus, a repeat of the second, follows the interlude, concluding the delightful “Sugar in the Tank”.  Julien Baker & TORRES ‘put their foot’ into their debut single as a duo. It’s a late bop from 2024.

Julien Baker & TORRES // “Sugar in the Tank” // Julien Baker & TORRES / Matador // 12.13.24

Julien Baker & TORRES, Sugar in the Tank [📷: Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; Julien Baker & TORRES / Matador; OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay]