PRE PLEASURE
Since releasing her debut album Don’t Let the Kids Win in 2016, Melbourne’s Julia Jacklin has carved out a fearsome reputation as a direct lyricist, willing to excavate the parameters of intimacy and agency in songs both stark and raw, loose, and playful. If her debut announced those intentions, and the startling 2019 follow-up Crushing drew in listeners uncomfortably close, PRE PLEASURE is the sound of Jacklin gently loosening her grip. Stirring piano-led opener ‘Lydia Wears A Cross’ channels the underage confusion of being told religion is profound, despite only feeling it during the spectacle of its pageantry. The gentle pulse of ‘Love, Try Not To Let Go’ and dreamy strings of ‘Ignore Tenderness’ betray an interrogation of consent and emotional injury. The stark ‘Less Of A Stranger’ picks at the generational thread of a mother/daughter relationship, while the hymnal ‘Too In Love To Die’ and loose jam of ‘Be Careful With Yourself’ equate true love with the fear of losing it. Recorded in Montreal with co-producer Marcus Paquin (The Weather Station, The National), PRE PLEASURE finds Jacklin teamed with her Canada-based touring band, bassist Ben Whiteley and guitarist Will Kidman, both of Canadian folk outfit The Weather Station. It also introduces drummer Laurie Torres, saxophonist Adam Kinner and string arrangements by Owen Pallett (Arcade Fire) recorded by a full orchestra in Prague. PRE PLEASURE presents Jacklin as her most authentic self; an uncompromising and masterful lyricist, always willing to mine the depths of her own life experience, and singular in translating it into deeply personal, timeless songs.
The Australian songwriter’s empathetic, understated rock songs sift through a litany of relationships and beliefs, seeking a balance between thinking about life and actually living it.
Julia Jacklin's third album 'Pre Pleasure' is a paean to self-awareness and considered curiosity. Read the NME review
Julia Jacklin's third outing is a testament to the songwriter's growth by remaining sorrowful while being her punchiest effort to date
The singer bottles 30-something triumphs and terrors into a capsule of characteristically exquisite indie rock.
‘Pre Pleasure’ combines all the directness that’s made Julia a mainstay in every sad girl playlist with a newfound dynamism that brings her to the next level.
The Australian musician’s latest album is one of those rare records that reveals the whole artist, cheap kicks and all
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Authentic, intricate and wholeheartedly personal, Julia Jacklin brims with poise at every turn on PRE PLEASURE.
Julia Jacklin’s appropriately titled third album, PRE PLEASURE, finds her moving closer towards an ideal of a jubilant life or at least wishing for better outcomes where love lands as it should.
At 31, Julia Jacklin has managed to secure herself as one of Australia’s most well-known singer-songwriters with just two albums. Blending folk and indie
The Australian singer-songwriter presides between confessional and observational on her arresting third album
With ‘Pre Pleasure,’ Julia Jacklin proves that she’s an unflinchingly personal lyricist who can also slam some rocking hooks together.
Pre Pleasure by Julia Jacklin album review by Greg Walker. The Australian Singer/songwriter's full-length is now out via Polyvinyl
As its title suggests, Pre Pleasure is an album fascinated by what comes before, or stands in the way, of pleasure.
Julia Jacklin’s third album PRE PLEASURE offers her most frank, grounded collection of songs to date. To suggest that this makes it less poignant than its predecessor Crushing is ludicrous. In fact, her vivid lyricism shines brightest when she isn’t caught in her own emotional web. Jacklin's craft for storytelling was immediately obvious on her
Julia Jacklin stands up to sexual shaming, Altered Images celebrate a good night out, William Orbit cleanses his soul
The singer-songwriter’s third album acknowledges shifting personal politics and how we have to walk ourselves into the answers