Music

Gloria Brancatisano / February 22, 2019

Fave Five

Fave Five: Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin

Image credit: Nick Mckk

Julia Jacklin has just released her elegantly devastating second album, Crushing, and to celebrate she'll be on our shores next week. To help quench our excitement we're counting down our fave five songs.

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Following up 2016’s Don’t Let The Kids Win, Julia Jacklin’s new album Crushing takes listeners through the rollercoaster of a break-up, and the healing that happens thereafter. It is starkly vulnerable and openly intimate, painting a picture that is both incredibly personal while also being universally relatable. 

To celebrate the record’s release, Jacklin will be hitting our shores next week, playing shows in Christchurch, Dunedin, and Auckland. We can’t wait to hear these new songs live, it is going to be something truly special.

Here are our Fave Five Julia Jacklin tunes to get you prepared for her visit.

5. Julia Jacklin – Don’t Let The Kids Win

Key lyric: I’ve got a feeling / That this won’t ever change / We’re gonna keep on getting older / It’s gonna keep on feeling strange

The title track and closer from Jacklin’s debut album is a gorgeously, personal slow-burner. It’s heartbreaking and revealing, perfectly summing up the whole record’s message and feeling. A truly magical four-minutes that showcases the stark beauty of Jacklin’s vocal and storytelling.

4. Julia Jacklin – LA Dream

Key lyric: Why’d you go to the grocery store / On the day you planned to leave / Left me here with all this food / My body does not need

Dropping towards the middle of Don’t Let The Kids Win, this haunting beauty wasn’t released as a single but it has remained an album highlight. Using the analogy of grocery shopping to tell the tale of unrequited love, it’s another pure example of Jacklin’s ability to balance beauty and heartbreak through her storytelling and songwriting. The brief moment when the song really opens up will have you holding your breath.

3. Julia Jacklin – Good Guy

Key lyric: I don’t care for the truth when I’m lonely / I don’t care if you lie / I don’t care if in the morning / You get up not saying goodbye

We’ve only just gotten our hands on Jacklin’s second album Crushing so it’s pretty hard to play favourites (we love the whole thing), but of the unreleased tracks, Good Guy does look to be a standout. It has featured in Jacklin’s live sets for the last couple of years, so after only have a few fan-filmed live versions it’s nice to have a studio version. It’s one of the starkest arrangements on the record, leaving Jacklin’s stunning vocal – as she tells a lover that it’s okay to pretend that they have feelings for each other just for the night as she tries to get through her break-up – front and centre.

2. Julia Jacklin – Pool Party

Key lyric: Oh I wanna give you all of my love / But I watched you sink as they swam above / You are the land and I am the dove

The first single released from her debut album, Pool Party is an ultimate fan favourite, and for obvious reasons. The classic,  jangly guitar melody carries Jacklin’s signature croon to perfection, and the track is one of the best examples of the balance between her soulfully sweet vocal and lyrics that punch you right in the gut. As a lyricist, Jacklin stands out for her honest, vulnerable storytelling and Pool Party is exactly that.

1. Julia Jacklin – Pressure To Party

Key lyric: Pressure to go strike out on your own / Pressure to learn from being alone / Pressure to not leave it for too long / Before you find another heart where you belong

From first spin it was clear, Pressure To Party is going to become a classic in Jacklin’s songbook. It’s the album’s most upbeat tune, relaying the all-too-familiar tale of the pressure you’re under after a break up to act a certain way at particular stages of the process. It’s a crunching slice of guitar pop, and we are so here for it.

Julia Jacklin will perform at Blue Smoke, Christchurch on Wednesday 27 February, The Cook, Dunedin on Thursday 28 February, and Hollywood Cinema, Auckland on Friday 1 March. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.co.nz.