Waking up to the world around NEWS FEATURE FRONTIER
She may be one of the fiercest forces on the Territory’s music scene today, but it was not long ago when Caiti Baker could not even get out of bed. Now the singer has risen through the turmoil that nearly derailed her. But it hasn’t come easy, as TAMARA H
SEEING Caiti Baker dance onstage with a microphone in hand, it’s hard to believe there was a time in her life when her joints wouldn’t move. When she very nearly couldn’t get out of bed.
The Territory blues and soul songstress has had a huge year — she had a clean sweep at the NT Song of the Year awards, including winning the main gong.
She’s toured solo, in tow with AB Original, Dan Sultan and supported Guy Sebastian.
She’s also released a string of singles ahead of her highly anticipated debut album Zinc, which will be out around October, and secured a $20,000 NT Government arts grant to release the album in the US and showcase her music in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Nashville.
But the journey hasn’t been clean cut.
At 31, Baker reflects on her 20s as if she was in a haze.
When she was 23, she was hit by glandular fever, which developed into chronic fatigue.
Combined with a bipolar diagnosis and the discovery she had a blood disorder called pyroluria, it took Baker years to find the right treatment of biochemical nutrient therapy to ease her symptoms and recover.
“There’s a massive chunk of my 20s that are a bit of a blur — I was constantly in a bubble of numb and there are lots of things I don’t remember,” Baker said.
When glandular fever took over, her body turned to turmoil.
The condition stiffened her joints and forced her to give up her desk-bound job in graphic design, and even made her struggle to get out of bed at all.
Despite the physical and mental challenges that came with the health issues, Baker continued to write music and perform with producer and DJ James Mangohig in their outfit, Sietta.
Baker praises the patience of Mangohig and her record labels as she navigated her way through the most challenging time of her life.
“I hold super high regard for James for dealing with me professionally, as someone who was quite socially challenging at times,” she said.
“The whole time I had these conditions, we only cancelled one gig — I’m proud of myself for not (cancelling shows due to) some of those conditions.”
The title of her upcoming album, Zinc, is a nod to the mineral that pulled her from the haze of her 20s.
“Zinc is a mineral that has been super instrumental in the changing and betterment of my health,” she said.
“I have a blood disorder which is basically a nutrient deficiency, and since beginning supplementation of zinc, my life has transformed monstrously.”
After emerging from that era in her life, Baker then faced the unexpected challenge of rediscovering who she was as an adult and where she fit into the world as a human being — and as an artist. Her upcoming single I
Won’t Sleep is a reflection of this time in her life.
“I Won’t Sleep is me processing my identity after being asleep for so long,” she said. “I had been a totally different person for almost a decade and I’ve come out of that to be a whole lot more settled and have more clarity.
“It’s really nice to have a sense of control over who I really am and that’s informed a lot of my song writing.” BAKER was born into music as the daughter of a blues musician Greg Baker.
Her folks met in the Adelaide music scene and growing up she was “basted” in blues, soul, rock’n’roll and jazz.
While her health has informed the title and some of the tracks on Zinc, it was reconnecting with her father that became the main theme of the album.
“As much as I love my dad, we definitely had a tendency to not see eye-to-eye on a lot things,” she said.
“We butted heads quite a lot and had quite a turbulent relationship.
“Around the time of Queensland floods, we had quite a bad falling out, and I decided I didn’t need that in my life, and I cut him off.”
Four years passed, and Baker soon realised it was time
“As much as I love my dad, we definitely had a tendency to not see eyeto-eye on a lot things”
to reconcile their troubled relationship. After a long phone call, Baker and Mangohig went to visit him in Brisbane.
“When we visited him and he bestowed upon James and me a USB that was filled with more than 600 files of guitar riffs, harmonica lines, drum patters, him talking to the cat and all these crazy ideas,” Baker said.
“He said ‘I’ve got this USB key — do whatever you want with it’.”
It was an arduous process to take the files and work them into something usable — they had been recorded on an old Nokia phone and needed to be decoded into an MP3 format before the pair could do anything with them. But it was worth the effort. “There was just musical gold among them,” Baker said.
“That became the theme of the record — every song on the album has my Dad’s stamp on it — whether it is a guitar sample, harmonica samples or his vocals.
“It’s nice to have him back in my life and I see him as much as possible when I’m back in Brisbane.”
The debut single from Zinc, Heavy on My Heart, is a reflection on another issue that plays on Baker’s consciousness — white privilege. “It’s something I haven’t really discussed with anyone,” she said.
“But ( Heavy on My Heart) is about the state of the world and how I see myself sitting in it and understanding the white privilege that need to be addressed.
“I would like other white people to also be aware because change can only come from being uncomfortable.”
As a white Australian who grew up immersed in American blues music, Baker travelled to the US to learn more about its origins.
“The music that I grew up listening to and in a way inspired my existence, is blues music, black music, American music, and as a white woman that’s something I’m very aware of,” she said.
“My experience with music and the culture behind that music is quite in-depth, so I’m quite across the standing of the world’s horrific secrets that have been whitewashed.”
Baker has toured and collaborated with hip-hop duo Briggs and Trials — the two halves of AB Original — and forged close friendships in that circle.
AB Original is a powerful and influential force in informing the Australian social consciousness about issues facing indigenous Australians — including the disproportionate incarceration rates, deaths in custody and push to change the date of Australia Day from January 26.
Baker said she was humbled to be a part of AB Original’s influence and was inspired by what their friendship could produce.
“People and relationships matter the most and, out of that, the most amazing achievements can come — music, art, political change and social and environmental change,” Baker said.
“I’m glad that I can be in a position where I might be able to have some type of platform to be able to be part of a change I believe in — even if it is unconformable for fellow white people, it’s something that needs to happen.”
Both Briggs and Trials said it had been a privilege to share a stage with Baker and were excited about the prospects of what comes next.
“I watched Caiti Baker grow as an artist for the last four or five years now,” Briggs said.
“It’s rare you get to sit back and see someone become the artist, songwriter and the performer that they want to be.
“It’s rare to see someone reach their full potential — at the moment we’re getting to watch that.”