Album Review: Julia Jacklin – The Gem

Even if you’re always listening to new music, or even if you’re a music blogger like myself, sometimes there’s an artist whose name you hear often but whose music for whatever reason you never get around to listening to. Julia Jacklin is one of those names for me. I resolved to make an effort this album cycle, after enjoying the preview songs. ‘The Gem’ was also the first new album Apple Music added to my library this week, so with zero expectations or knowledge of her at all, I pressed play and found myself hooked into her melodic, vulnerable indie music right away. 

From there I spent some time digging into her story, discovering she is Australian, based in Melbourne and recently signed to 4AD (one of my favourite record labels who have previously released classic albums by Belly and Kim Deal as well as Big Thief more recently). She’s also recently replaced her management team and begun unpicking the complexities of her relationship with fame and the industry itself.

Opener ‘Brand New’ was a song that originally had a more country tinge, a style she wasn’t happy with initially. By going back to the studio, recording a more interesting indie rock version, with its unusual echoing arrangement, this allowed for her to feel more in control of her musical direction. The line ‘I’m free, now let me / be brand new’ shows that new confidence is in the lyrics and attitude too. 

Then she leans into the God metaphors for the next two tracks. ‘God Sometimes’ acknowledges her own power and the reality of taking control of her career, written during a retreat in Iceland. ‘If I Had the Hand of God’ is a stunner, about the dislocation and disassociation of being on tour, feelings that spiral out to affect your sense of self entirely.

The uncertainty of self is further explored on relationship songs ‘The Hardest Thing’ and ‘Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon’), both of which are the catchiest songs on the album, inspired by 90s music and ‘wanting to make something that sounded like sunshine’. She experiments with more dreamy, rhythmic sounds on ‘Real Life’ which works beautifully and adds another dimension to the album. 

On ‘Angel Eyes’ and ‘I Wish’ featuring the Maes she wanted to create something sparse, more influenced by Gillian Welch and Iris Dement. She has described ‘Walk on Me’ as ‘two chords and the truth’ which sums up the direct, meditative simplicity she’s going for on the song. These three songs might be quiet but they offer us moments of musical and emotional weight. 

‘The Gem’ is only 35 minutes long but proves that if you’re brave enough to flip some tables, rearrange, slow down and shine things up, then you can produce the musical sparkle you’re looking for. As we say here in Scotland, this one’s a wee gem.  

BUY: https://juliajacklin.bandcamp.com/album/the-gem