Baby Cool’s debut album is a beautiful and kaleidoscopic journey of self-realisation that has been meticulously crafted with love by Grace Cruell.

Baby Cool’s debut album softly begins with a combination of 60s psychedelia and country influenced introspection. Shuffling drums, tambourine and meditative guitar combine with Baby Cool’s apathetic vocals as they effortlessly glide across the swirling instruments of ‘The Sea’. Deep bass plummets below the sparkling percussion, creating an irresistible rhythmic bed that is further strengthened before magical harp trickles into the chorus. These "deeply sentimental" songs sparkle and shine, seamlessly flowing into each other to create a cosmic soundscape that accompanies the interstellar narrative. Hearkening back to the stylings of Jefferson Airplane or Joni Mitchel, ‘Earthling on the Road to Self Love’ is the latest side project by Nice Biscuit co-frontwoman Grace Cuell, and it accompanies her recent journey of self-affirmation.

The opening lyrics “could you write it down for me, write it on a pink piece of paper” refer directly to Grace's recent struggles with mental health. Needing a reminder of the magic of human existence, they wrote themselves a love letter on pink handmade paper and read it daily. The album was born from this ritual and the lyrics that follow, “throw it into the sea”, perhaps reflect Grace’s progress; no longer needing the artefact to remember this wonder.

Baby Cool has already deeply immersed themselves into the incredible collection of psychedelic sounds emanating from Australia. Having toured with Babe Rainbow and The Lazy Eyes back in 2022, they’ll soon be performing with some of the most influential psychedelic artists of the day: Mdou Moctar, Drug Dealer and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. 

Baby Cool’s debut album, which was recorded with Sam Joseph (of Family Jordan) in a studio by the northern rivers of New South Wales, reflects the rich and picturesque surroundings of the Australian countryside. Astounding passion and talent bubble forth from the depths of the luscious tracklist. The recording process was immensely enriched by the community of Grace’s friends who helped to bring the music to life. Grace stated that “there was magic and love in every part of the process of creating this album”, and the tracks shine with this intimate production. This synchronised community of musicians beautifully exercise their talent to help bring the project to life.

Elements of folk, psychedelia and country drift into each of the carefully constructed songs. Swinging ballads like ‘For Us’ craft an intimate and relaxed atmosphere with bubbling synths, dancing guitar and Grace’s harmonising vocals. These elements combine to surround the listener on all sides as an enveloping warmth fills the stereo field until it fades to make way for bouncing 5/4 jazzy guitar chords. Glittering harp enters into multiple tracks such as 'Alter', whilst sparkling synth and twanging guitar populate 'Magic'. 

‘Mother Luna’ dreamily floats along, enclosing the listener into sunny splashes of instrumentation until it slowly coasts away. Energised psychedelic shuffling drums, harmonising soft vocal wall and rhythmic guitar suddenly throw the listener into the hypnotising outro and deep into the psychedelic sounds of the album. Gently trickling water eases the listener into ‘Country Song’ where Baby Cool fully indulges in acoustic country; channelling Parton, Mitchell, Guthrie and Nelson. ‘Daydream’ also indulges in more traditional country stylings with slide guitar and soft flute embellishing the duration of the track until it builds into its fuzzy finale. As the final section begins to play, Grace repeats the phrase ‘life is but a daydream’ reminding the listener to cherish the dreamy time they have as the final notes of the album fade away.

Baby Cool’s debut album is a beautiful and kaleidoscopic journey of self-realisation that has been meticulously crafted with love by Grace Cruell and brought to life by her community of talented musicians. I’m more than sure ‘Earthling on the Road to Self Love’ will cement itself as a modern psychedelic classic that prompts the listener to look deeper into themselves and pluck their own meaning from the swirling soundscape.