Julia Jacklin – The Gem

Most artists leave home to make a record. Julia Jacklin did the opposite on her fourth album, naming it after a scrappy little Melbourne bar she’s frequented for nearly a decade, and recording it in the room directly above it.

The Gem takes its title from an actual Collingwood pub, the kind of place where bands push dining tables aside to set up in a corner. Jacklin and her band, guitarist Jacob Diamond, bassist Mimi Gilbert, and drummer Jess Elwood, spent close to a year working above it with producer Robert Muiños, taking breaks during sessions to wander downstairs and catch whoever happened to be playing that night. That lived-in, unhurried atmosphere bleeds directly into the record itself, which multiple critics have called her loosest and most confident collection yet, even as the lyrics stay as unresolved and occasionally prickly as ever.

What’s consistent across Jacklin’s catalogue, and pushed furthest here, is her fascination with the tightrope between independence and connection, what it costs to protect your own space versus what you lose by needing someone else too much. Opener “Brand New” announces that tension immediately, a song about the fantasy of simply leaving an old version of yourself behind, riding a compressed, syncopated groove that nods toward pop without fully committing to it. Elsewhere, the album swings between playful self-deprecation, like the gently comic admission on “Real Life” that she dreamed of being responsible enough to water someone’s plants but never actually bothered, and genuinely uncomfortable vulnerability, most strikingly on the slow-building “Walk On Me,” which sits with feelings of shame and submission longer than most songwriters would dare.

The record closes on gentler terms with “I Wish,” written directly to her younger self and featuring harmonies from sibling folk duo the Maes, offering something Jacklin’s earlier albums rarely allowed, acknowledgment that she didn’t have to survive everything alone in the first place.

MusicPorta says: Julia Jacklin trades some of her earlier songwriting’s heaviness for something looser and more generous on The Gem, without losing an ounce of honesty in the process. It’s a record that trusts familiar ground still has something worth excavating.

MusicPorta Rating: ★★★★★

“The Gem” is an exciting project with captivating energy, impressive songwriting, and a memorable sound throughout. Make sure you listen to this impressive album and add it to your playlist today.

“The Gem” By “Julia Jacklin” BELOW

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