Medium Build has collaborated wit Julien Baker for “Yoke.” The track is the second single from Medium Build’s forthcoming EP, Marietta, due November 15 via Slowplay/Island Records.

Collaborating with his longtime friend, Nick Carpenter, a.k.a. Medium Build, notes, “This industry is lonely and the value of long-lasting friendships cannot be overstated, but having a friend in this business that you look up to, admire and adore is a godsend.” Baker adds that Carpenter’s music “reports from the borders of the absurd with humor and grace—with allowance for, of all things, fun—unafraid of ugliness but always begging the merit of levity.”

Carpenter and Baker have been friends for over a decade—since their college days at Middle Tennessee State—where they bonded over music and shared experiences of growing up queer in the Southern church. “Yoke” reflects on this experience of belonging and the pain of leaving behind a community that may not accept you. Given their long friendship, it’s fitting for Baker to feature on the track where they sing, “I gave them my youth, made some lifelong friends, who no longer acknowledge me,” capturing a deeply personal and cathartic moment in Carpenter’s work. See below for additional notes from both Carpenter and Baker about their relationship and working together.

Marietta is named after the town outside of Atlanta, Georgia where Carpenter grew up. The songs cover the central tenets of his time there: his parents looking for opportunity, his relationship with the church and the angst and longing of his adolescence. The images from the EP’s artwork were all shot at a series of hometown locations by Silken Weinberg (artistic director for Ethel Cain), including the street where Carpenter grew up and the abandoned Sears where his father once worked. “Marietta is more so a zoom out of my childhood,” explains Carpenter. “Extending grace to my family. To myself. I just wanna thank myself and my parents for surviving my childhood.”

Marietta was recorded on Nashville’s Music Row by Medium Build alongside creative partner Laiko, where the two experimented with genre and style. “We made the album we wanted to make,” Nick says. “It’s so easy to get back in touch with yourself if you can throw off the heavy cloak of duty and just do something that feels good.” Identifying as queer, Nick draws inspiration from his own exploration of sexual identity and sonically blends classic country, ’80s new wave and ’90s rap and hip-hop.


MEDIUM BUILD ON JULIEN BAKER

I met Julien Baker outside a venue in Murfreesboro, Tennessee when she was 17. She and her band, the Star Killers, were on a bill with my old band, and they were too young to be inside during the other sets so they waited outside, huddled around with giant X’s on their hands. Julien played a telecaster with a rainbow guitar strap and practically unhinged her jaw when she screamed. All of us in the room knew there was something special going on with her and her boys. They had passion and treated each other like family. The music was human and angry and hopeful and sad.

We became friends and the Star Killers invited us on our first tour. I learned that Julien was a person of deep faith, albeit complicated by queerness and addiction and family trauma. I felt a kinship with her. I had been raised in evangelical spaces myself, and by that time, I was losing my faith. Julien stood out to me as the realest Christian I had ever met. Someone who read the Bible but loved sinners. We didn’t agree on everything, but we agreed on love. And we shared a deep love of music. We bonded over Circa Survive and Pedro The Lion. We shared songs with one another and pushed the other towards more honesty in our songs, the ugly kind of honesty that we were drawn to.

When Julien’s first solo record blew up and she was whisked into the limelight, none of us were surprised. I was excited—and definitely jealous. She was living out the dreams of our scene. she was the one who made it. Years later, after my first tour, I texted her an apology. I said this job sucks and people treat you weird. I’m so sorry I ever coveted your spot. I should have checked in more.

Over the past decade, Julien and I have shared a drift in and out of faith and sobriety—two of the things we’ve always met on. When I sent her this song about deconstructing my relationships with church and the people around it, I knew she would understand. I’d been scared in the past to release songs this niche and heavy, worried about the people from my past I would offend as I heal my inner child. Julien’s presence on this track feels like a friend holding your hand as you share your testimony or open up at an AA meeting. This industry is lonely and the value of long-lasting friendships cannot be overstated, but having a friend in this business that you look up to, admire and adore is a godsend (pun intended).

I love you JB. Thanks for showing me the path so many times and allowing me to walk with you.

-NC

JULIEN BAKER ON MEDIUM BUILD

When you meet Nick Carpenter (a.k.a. Medium Build) he will probably make you laugh…and then make you think. Carpenter’s is a mind hungry for beauty, for music, for understanding; fiercely curious, determined, but importantly never above laughing at himself. It’s that lack of self-seriousness which gives his songs a uniform earnestness, the freedom to speak in new styles, to try on a cast of costumes, vary the art of the telling without sacrificing the story. His music reports from the borders of the absurd with humor and grace—with allowance for, of all things, fun—unafraid of ugliness but always begging the merit of levity. May you enjoy the talent of one of the most gifted, wisest fools I know, as I have.

-Julien Baker

Medium Build
Marietta
Tracklisting

Triple Marathon
John & Lydia
Yoke (featuring Julien Baker)
Dad’s 4 Runner
Faded Blue

Medium Build has toured with Lewis Capaldi, FINNEAS, Holly Humberstone and more

Order “Yoke” by Medium Build ft: Julien Baker HERE