Julia Jacklin has released her fourth album, The Gem, a deliberately lo-fi record made in a cramped studio above the Melbourne pub that shares its name. The Australian songwriter said the setting allowed her to step away from the polished production of her previous work and make an album she genuinely enjoyed hearing.
Jacklin recorded the album over 18 months at producer Robert Muinos’ Rat Shack studio in Collingwood, with the pub’s kitchen, neighbours and other businesses providing an inescapable backdrop.
“It felt like I was in the world while making music instead of tucked away in a hidden studio, which is usually how it goes,” she said.
The studio was small, with a piano squeezed into an old laundry and a leak in the ceiling. Vocal recordings sometimes required the kitchen staff to lower the radio, while drum sessions meant asking people not to walk down the corridor.
Jacklin, who moved from Sydney to Melbourne in 2017, had become a regular at The Gem after arriving in the city. The pub’s staff would move furniture aside for bands to play in a corner, creating the informal environment she wanted for the record.
Its sounds remain part of the finished album, with street noise and sirens audible on some tracks. The instruments were recorded at close range, capturing the physical scrape of guitar strings and the full warmth of Jacklin’s voice.
After the orchestral and electronic elements of 2022’s Pre Pleasure, Jacklin wanted to pursue a more stripped-back approach influenced by records by Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris.
“I allowed myself to make something that I actually enjoy listening to and gave myself the permission to not feel like I needed each record to go up in production standards,” she said.
The songs continue Jacklin’s longstanding examination of love, relationships and personal freedom, while also returning to her interest in God as a metaphor for knowledge and power beyond human limitations.
One song, If I Had the Hand of God, addresses the demands of a career that can take her away from family and home for much of her adult life. Jacklin said an album cycle could last two years, leaving her aware that people close to her might go through major changes while she was working.
She also spoke about the strain of promoting music, particularly when interviews are filmed and edited into short-form videos. Jacklin said she had once been so intent on being understood that she used interviews to communicate with people in her personal life.
“I used to feel ill [after interviews] because I would’ve said too much, I would’ve given too much away, because it felt good in the moment,” she said.
Despite that discomfort, Jacklin said she valued serious music journalism and regarded close examination of artists’ work as an important part of the relationship between musicians and writers.
This year also marks a decade since the release of her debut album, Don’t Let the Kids Win. Reflecting on its title track, Jacklin said the passage of time had changed the way she understood one of its verses.
“You never get used to time passing,” she said. “If you brace against time, your life is just so much harder. You just have to relax in whatever way you can.”
Jacklin is due to perform at The Gem in Collingwood on Saturday and Sunday.
