Julia Jacklin’s fourth album, The Gem, blends mystery and intimacy with luscious pop-rock, bright, upbeat jangle and stripped-back acoustics. The Australian musician’s latest work continues her exploration of duality, examining how to be both vulnerable but protected, spiritual but grounded.
A career of dualities
Jacklin’s 2019 album Crushing introduced her to an international audience as an introspective storyteller, delivering tales of heartbreak and betrayal with quiet impassivity. In 2022, Pre Pleasure turned inward, examining the impact of childhood religion on her sexuality, with big, bold songs influenced by modern pop.
The Gem finds its place between these musical and thematic worlds. God is a recurring theme, as Jacklin grapples with the tension of “how to feel free with someone watching over me,” as she sings on track five, Angel Vision. She shifts the perspective by imagining herself, or a loved one, in the almighty role.
Hope and hopelessness
The second track on the 10-song album, God Sometimes, describes the necessity of taking control of your own destiny, while If I Had the Hand of God takes the opposite approach, wondering if being all-knowing would change anything at all. Hope and hopelessness blur into a singular kind of surrender.
Jacklin’s observational eye imbues life’s ordinary scenes with contemplative weight, whether watching a neighbour eat a peach over their kitchen sink, calling her dad or forgetting to water a friend’s plants. “Can’t afford to have an inner life,” she sings on the album opener, Brand New – but everyday moments awaken her rich internal monologue across the record.
Sonically balanced
Sonically, The Gem balances luscious pop-rock (God Sometimes, The Hardest Thing) with bright, upbeat jangle (lead single Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon)) and stripped-back acoustics (Angel Vision, the piano-led You Turned On the Tap). At the album’s halfway mark, Real Life straddles the line between lo-fi and denser arrangements, beginning with a tinny drum machine before building to something more quietly complex.
Jacklin’s gentle, startlingly controlled voice is her superpower, bringing stories to life with tenderness and emotion. She accompanies herself on Brand New, singing the title phrase over and over as it’s layered with a defiant statement: “I’m free now, let me be brand new.” Sumptuous harmonies come courtesy of bandmate Jacob Diamond; the album closer, I Wish, features the Melbourne folk duo the Maes.
The vocals are especially affecting on Walk On Me, which sounds as though it could be a cut from Crushing. Downbeat guitar and drums back a vignette of a doomed, unequal relationship: “When the band begins to play / I say, ‘I know this song’ / you say, ‘Everyone knows this one’ / so why am I the only person singing along?” Jacklin sings plaintively, before the music takes over. Her voice transforms into an instrument for the rest of the song, soaring over thick sonic layers.
A window into contradictions
Blending mystery and intimacy, The Gem offers a window into the contradictions and confusions of Jacklin’s smart, sensitive mind. The album cover shows a triptych of lockets, all containing Jacklin’s face: in two circular frames, she smiles, but in a rectangular one, her expression is inscrutable. It’s an apt visualisation of Jacklin’s genius duality, continuing her trajectory as one of Australia’s finest contemporary songwriters. The Gem is out now.
