WATCH / SHARE “I WAS NEON” HERE
BUY / STREAM “I WAS NEON” HERE
JULIA JACKLIN NEW LP, PRE PLEASURE, PRODUCED BY MARCUS PAQUIN AND RECORDED WITH MEMBERS OF THE WEATHER STATION, OUT AUGUST 26 VIA POLYVINYL
WORLD TOUR BEGINS THIS AUGUST WITH STOPS IN TORONTO, MONTREAL, AND VANCOUVER
PRE-ORDER PRE PLEASURE HERE
“The arrangement is sparse — drum machine, echoing stabs of piano — to spotlight Jacklin’s storytelling, but a subtle unease creeps in when she gets to the haunting chorus” - The New York Times
"The single opens with the dense patter of a drumkit, as Jacklin’s lush vocals enter." - Rolling Stone
“Fans of Tamara Lindeman and her folk-rock outfit the Weather Station will cock an ear toward the Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin. She shares Weather Station bassist Ben Whiteley and guitarist Will Kidman on her latest album, which was produced by Montrealer Marcus Paquin of Arcade Fire and the National pedigree. The elite string arranger Owen Pallett is also on board.” The Globe and Mail, ‘The Big 10 Albums of Summer 2022’
"First single “Lydia Wears A Cross” is a slow-building number. It starts with Jacklin singing over a rickety drum-machine, but by the time it’s over, we get strings and synths and drums coming in from every angle." - Stereogum
"Led by piano pounding over a simple drum machine beat, the song patiently builds on synth and a the slow spiral of a distorted guitar. It’s all just a platform for Jacklin’s captivating melodies as she sings of “a seven-year-old Jesus Christ Superstar fanatic attending catholic school trying to figure out which way is up.” - Consequence
Photo Credit: Nick Mckk // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Julia Jacklin is back with a new album out this August, and it’s a welcome return with critics and fans alike preparing for yet another devastatingly powerful record. PRE PLEASURE set for release on August 26 via Polyvinyl Record Co. 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.
Out today, Jacklin’s new single “I Was Neon” feels like an instant classic. Driven by steady guitars and rhythm section, sonically the track is a rock-pop anthem with Jacklin asking, ‘Am I going to lose myself again?’.
“I Was Neon” arrives today with a video directed by Jacklin who says she first wrote the song for “a band called rattlesnack, a short-lived much loved 2019 side project that I played drums in. I rewrote it for my album in Montreal, during a time when I was desperately longing for a version of myself that I feared was gone forever. I was thinking of this song when I made the album cover, this song is the album cover really.”
WATCH / SHARE “I WAS NEON” HERE
BUY / STREAM “I WAS NEON” HERE
MORE ABOUT PRE PLEASURE
“A lot of the time I feel like I need to do all the work before I can enjoy my life,” says Julia Jacklin of her third album, PRE PLEASURE. “Whether that’s work on songs or sex, friendships, or my relationship with my family – I think if I work on them long and hard enough, eventually I’ll get to sit around and really enjoy them. But that’s not how anything works is it. It’s all an ongoing process.”
The binary of casual crisis is a powerful force in Julia Jacklin’s music. Since releasing her debut album Don’t Let the Kids Win in 2016, the Melbourne-via-Blue Mountains singer/songwriter 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 folky 2016 debut Don’t Let the Kids Win 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.
Conceived upon returning home at the end of a mammoth Crushing world tour, and finished in a frantic few months of recording in Montreal (“The songs on this record took either three years to write or three minutes”), PRE PLEASURE sees Jacklin expanding beyond her signature sound, while conjuring the ripples and faultlines caused by unreliable communication.
WATCH / SHARE “LYDIA WEARS A CROSS” HERE
BUY / STREAM “LYDIA WEARS A CROSS” HERE
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 (‘beneath the sheets you’re just a cave / a plastic bucket, or a grave / who said you’re not what you get / you are what you gave away’). 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. Gorgeous string-drenched closer “End Of A Friendship” offers a grand gesture of post-communication – an effort to bestow fireworks on a friendship that’s fizzled out.
“I care so much about the people around me, so much it makes me want to sleep forever, it feels so overwhelming” says Jacklin. “I wasn’t raised in an environment where language was used to express love and care, part of my songwriting process is me trying to rectify that, force myself to put words to those feelings”
READ MORE ABOUT JULIA JACKLIN IN THE FULL BIO HERE
PRE-ORDER PRE PLEASURE HERE
MORE PRAISE FOR JULIA JACKLIN
"The Australian singer seems to effortlessly evoke heartbreak with every incisive line she lulls with passion and vulnerability" - Uproxx
"On the new track, Jacklin carefully lays out a scene's rough sketch through first-person narration before filling in the lines with existential depth." - FLOOD
"I’d be a believer / If it was all just song and dance,” she insists over an indistinct guitar riff, unable to feel a connection to her spirituality except through the transportive power of performance. Live drums and synths kick in unexpectedly as the song builds, and Jacklin vocalizes wordlessly through its climax, as if finally finding the transcendence she was seeking." - Paste
WORLD TOUR DATES
08/26 - Stanford, CA @ Frost Amphitheater - Here and There Festival
08/27 - Pasadena, CA @ This Ain’t No Picnic Festival
09/09 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk #09/10 - Dallas, TX @ The Studio at The Factory #
09/12 - Nashville, TN @ The Basement East #
09/13 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West #
09/15 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club #
09/16 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel #
09/17 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts #
09/18 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club #
09/20 - Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre $
09/21 - Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre $
09/22 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Calvin University $
09/23 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall $
09/24 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line $
09/26 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater $
09/27 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge $
09/29 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom $
09/30 - Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile $
10/02 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall $
10/04 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore $
10/05 - Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern $
10/07 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre $
10/08 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom $
11/03 - Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street &
11/05 - Glasgow, Scotland @ SWG3 TV Studio &
11/06 - Manchester, UK @ The Ritz &
11/07 - Birmingham, UK @ The Mill &
11/09 - Bristol, UK @ SWX &
11/10 - Brighton, UK @ Chalk &
11/11 - London, UK @ Roundhouse &
11/13 - Paris, France @ La Maroquinerie &
11/14 - Antwerp, Belgium @ Trix Club &
11/15 - Cologne, Germany @ Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld &
11/17 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso &
11/18 - Hamburg, Germany @ Knust &
11/20 - Oslo, Norway @ Parkteatret &
11/21 - Stockholm, Sweden @ Slaktkyrkan &
11/22 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ Dr Koncerthuset &
11/24 - Berlin, Germany @ Columbia Theatre &
11/25 - Munich, Germany @ Strom &
11/26 - Zurich, Switzerland @ Plaza &
11/27 - Milan, Italy @ Magnolia &
11/29 - Barcelona, Spain @ Apolo &
11/30 - Madrid, Spain @ SalaMon &
12/01 - Lisbon, Portugal @ Lav &
# w/ Kara Jackson
$ w/ Katy Kirby
& w/ Erin Rae
