Graham Reid | | 2 min read
One of the most important and interesting Australian talents of the past decade, on her two previous albums -- Don't Let the Kids Win and Crushing -- Julia Jacklin proved herself a writer of poignant ballads, self-analytical but never self-indulgent lyrics and sometimes offering skeletons of narratives for the listener to fill in the details.
On Iushing of 2019, the then-28 year old delivered sophisticated, and mature assessments of her life in the spotlight (Pressure to Party), the death of a friend on When the Family Flies In (“you know it's bad when the family flies in”) and the preternaturally insightful consideration of how to keep a relationship alive over time on Don't Know How to Keep Loving You: “What if I cleaned up, what if I worked on my skin . . .”
Never maudlin – When the Family Flies In just sounds ineffably sad – she allows death and doubt to hover in the wings, as she does on this new album in Less of a Stranger about her relationship with her parents, especially her mother: “I just wish my own mother was less of a stranger”.
But she pushes it out of the personal, “Eyes closed, do you see your mother too?”
Over a quiet guitar strum it is engrossing in its intimacy.
Elsewhere she fires off a thrilling slice of droning power pop on I Was Neon where she worries about reverting to something she once was.
As on Crushing, Jacklin is at home on alt.folk (the nagging Velvet Underground throb on the downtempo sensuality of Magic) and wistful reveries like Too in Love to Die: “If this plane were to go down, surely the love I feel for him would soften the ground”.
Here is accomplished melodic breadth and multi-instrumentalist Jacklin – whose 2016 debut Don't Let the Kids Win was recorded in Lyttelton with Aldous Harding, Marlon Williams and Nadia Reid's producer Ben Edwards – has a core band which includes bassist Ben Whiteley and guitarist Will Kidman of Canadian Tamara Lindeman's group the Weather Station (whose Ignorance was one of Elsewhere's best of 2011 albums). A couple of string arrangements are by Owen Pallett (Arcade Fire, Mountain Goats, Grizzly Bear).
That's the company she now keeps. But central is her assured, expressive voice.
As much as she plays the responsible adult and openly declares her love in the wise counsel of “please stop smoking” and “stick to the [speed] limit” on the dream-pop of Be Careful with Yourself, she also openly speaks of male and female lovers.
And she nails down details of formative childhood and teenage experiences, as on the quietly loaded Lydia Wears a Cross: “Eyes to the board, thoughts to our Lord, we were praying for Princess Diana. Ms. Brown was keeping score, Vivien’s holding on but singing every single word wrong on the parade float. Just a child in a leotard beneath a technicolour dream coat”.
Julia Jacklin has yet to get mainstream attention and this album may not do it, but with PRE PLEASURE, she's now delivered a trifecta of significant, adult and absorbing albums.
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PRE PLEASURE is now available digitally at bandcamp here, on CD and limited edition vinyl.
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For more on Julia Jacklin at Elsewhere including an extensive interview, start here.
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