Photo by Ebru Yildiz

It’s become expected that everyone is going country these days, but going as far back as a few years ago, friends and former tourmates Julien Baker and TORRES’ Mackenzie Scott already had already begun hinting at the idea that they were going to put out a country album together. The pairing makes sense — their folk songwriting sensibilities embrace inner vulnerabilities voiced in big ways, their harmonies complimentary, and their respective upbringings as queer spirits from the South champion a different point of view to tell a story from its sound. “Sugar In the Tank”, the first preview from that as-yet-titled album, hears the pair setting their Stetsons and boot spurs into position of what that may be. The two kindreds saddle themselves into country traditionalism with waning pedal steel and banjo plucks to sing their lovers ode from hell and back. Instead of a cliché sad country song about ones-that-got-away, it’s Baker and TORRES wondering what’s got the other one sticking around. “I hate just watching through the window when you pull up / And I’m still thinking I should stay home / Sitting outside with the engine running / Just waiting on me to change,” they sing. “Come on, baby, put a little / Sugar in the tank / And I’ll love you all the way.” Their song is sweet and fiery — a juxtaposition between acknowledging our own imperfections in the face of still being deserving of that love.

Julien Baker & TORRES’ “Sugar in the Tank” single is available now on Matador Records.