Review: Julia Jacklin’s The Gem

Julia Jacklin
The Gem
4AD/Remote Control Records

Four years on from 2022’s PRE PLEASURE, The Gem is Julia Jacklin back at her very best.

The Gem, Jacklin’s fourth album, deals in everything that made her so celebrated in the first place: warm, textured instrumentation and intimate lyricism. The opening track, Brand New, is somewhat of a misnomer, as Jacklin’s signature intimate style hasn’t gone anywhere but rather is explored on another axis.

Jacklin’s best work comes from a place of truth and vulnerability, while also grappling with anxiety, uncertainty and precarious circumstances. Arguably the most popular songs from her catalogue, 2019’s Pressure To Party and Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You, show all the hallmarks of this style. The former is fuelled by frenetic energy, relentlessly chasing thoughts surrounding other’s perspectives and meeting expectations, while the latter crescendos and simultaneously circles a drain of repetitive thoughts. Both reveal that Jacklin is still figuring it out: “What do I do? Don’t know how it works,” and “What do I do now? There’s nothing left to say.”

The Gem lets us know that she hasn’t completely got there yet, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. The album is certainly more assured than her previous work but still operates on a tense spectrum. Brand New is accented with muffled background vocals, unsure of themselves and their place in the track but ever-effective, as Jacklin doesn’t declare she’s brand new but instead begs to become it. She further contemplates a shaky sense of self on album highlight, If I Had The Hand Of God, considering the magnifying glass of fame and the allure of knowing everything rather than questioning everything.

The album’s lead single, Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon), is the most upbeat on the record, the characteristic thrum of anxiety threading itself into an avoidant anthem. This is the closest thing to a love song on The Gem and still finds itself addressing a duality of apprehension and earnestness through driving indie rock. The growth is there, but instead of worried questioning, there’s self-acceptance and communion with the unknowns of love and relationships.

Angel Vision and You Turned On The Tap are the most subdued entries on The Gem, with Angel Vision a standout, pairing Jacklin’s soft vocals with simple acoustic guitar across the entire runtime. Bandmate Jacob Diamond assists on background vocals, adding a delicate layer to an already tender song that again addresses a duality: Jacklin is secure in her agency, like on the confident earlier track God Sometimes, and again, still working some things through. You Turned On The Tap takes the same stripped-back approach, this time on piano, contemplating grief.

Walk On Me and album closer I Wish are both incredibly strong. Jacklin vocalises over a controlled chaos of drums and distorted guitar at the climax of six-minute Walk On Me, communicating wordlessly everything the previous verses had described. I Wish features Melbourne duo The Maes, addressing the core thesis through indie-folk bliss and three-part harmonies that cut deep. “Could not believe the light would come back / Until it did, bit by bit / I remembered how to do it / I got through and I’ll be fine. Still I wish someone had been there at the time.”

The Gem comes full circle to address Jacklin’s breakout, Crushing. Where in 2019 the songs ruminated endlessly over the unknown; seven years on, she lets us know she’s made her peace. If Jacklin’s wider catalogue is riddled with insecurity, The Gem gives grace to that younger self and still makes space to have doubts of her own. While there might be new questions, living means that they will be answered, eventually, whether that’s about fame, sexuality, religion and free will, grief, shame, love or relationships.

Jacklin is undoubtedly one of Australia’s best working singer-songwriters, and The Gem is another home run. Across a tight ten tracks, there’s no filler in sight. The strength lies in how she shapes her feelings with the lyrics, a balancing act between simplicity, emotionality, vulnerability and storytelling that Jacklin is an absolute pro at. Couple that with the album’s textured and cathartic indie rock and indie folk soundscapes, and there’s an album to keep returning to when we need to hear our own thoughts echoed back to us.

ABBY GREER