Baby Teeth

Nottingham’s Joel Baker enlists two of the UK’s best upcomers Jordy and James Vickery for unassumingly vibrant cut Baby Teeth, plucking the heart strings in the process. 

Joel, who describes his sound as ‘somewhere between J Cole and Joni Mitchell’ first burst on the scene back in 2013 and has been impressing listeners ever since with his multi-faceted talent. A glimpse at his highly anticipated debut album that is set to drop later this year, Baby Teeth embodies texture, tone and craft, merging acoustic poignancy with uplifting soul and rap influences. 

The hook from James Vickery, who himself released his debut album Songs That Made Me Feel last year, is emotional, freeing and powerful. Jordy, who is arguably the best lyricist in the UK right now having cemented his spot at the head of alt rap’s table with his flawless EP KMT, subtly devours the instrumental, delivering a finely tuned verse abut his own personal triumphs and turmoil. 

Talking on the release, Joel commented:

“I was writing a lot of poetry at the time, on the themes of life as you know it, being crushed, but there is better to come. In the middle of the crushing, I found solace in discovering this universal pattern in nature, of death and being reborn into something even more glorious. As soon as I wrote “the light it always finds a way” I had to sit at the kitchen table and let it all come out in one sitting. Sometimes words write for you, rather than the other way around. This is one of those instances.”

A genre crossover that fulfils its towering potential, this is a refreshing and pensive track from three major UK talents.