Julia Jacklin
Julia Jacklin is an Australian singer-songwriter from Sydney, Australia.
Jacklin's musical style has been described as indie folk, indie pop and alternative country. She has released two studio albums, Don't Let The Kids Win and Crushing, and ten singles.
She received the Best Independent Blues and Roots Album at the 2017 Australian Independent Record Labels Association Awards and has been nominated for Best Female Artist and Song of the Year at the APRA Music Awards.
Jacklin has also performed with the band Phantastic Ferniture, with whom she released the debut single "Fuckin 'n' Rollin" and a self-titled album in 2018, followed by subsequent singles.
Early life
Jacklin grew up in the Blue Mountains, Australia, in a family of school teachers. Inspired by Britney Spears, at the age of 10, she took classical singing lessons before joining a high school band which did Avril Lavigne and Evanescence covers. She studied social policy at Sydney University, and after graduating she lived in a garage in Glebe, a suburb of Sydney, and worked in a factory making Essential oils. Growing up, Jacklin did not know anyone who was a full-time musician, and her family did not understand what it meant to be a musician: “They didn’t really see it as being something that was going to work out, at all,” Jacklin says in an interview with Sound of Boston. She continued to perform locally, and formed the band Salta together with Liz Hughes in 2012.Career
She gained an audience and significant critical acclaim through her first two singles "Pool Party" and "Coming of Age" which both received radio airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music. She has been touring extensively since March 2016 in the US, UK, Europe and Australia, appearing at various festivals. She has played headline gigs and has also supported artists such as First Aid Kit, Whitney, Marlon Williams and Okkervil River. In 2016, Rolling Stone Australia tipped Jacklin as one of their "Future Is Now" artists, while Triple J nominated her for a J Award for Unearthed Artist of the Year. Jacklin did not consider herself a full-time musician until August 2016, when she really started touring and figured she could not manage her regular job anymore.''Don't Let The Kids Win''
Her debut studio album, Don't Let The Kids Win, was released in October 2016 on Transgressive Records. The Guardian described it as "one of those albums that will slowly creep into the affections of a large number of people" while Rolling Stone Australia found her songs "simple and unadorned". Jacklin was working at an essential oils factory to save money to record with producer Ben Edwards, having been inspired by Aldous Harding's debut album. The album was recorded and produced by Edwards in Lyttelton, New Zealand over a three-week period. It features Eddie Boyd, Tom Stephens, Mitchell Lloyd, Joe McCallum.In early 2016, she released her single "Pool Party" independently, and became one of the stand out acts at SXSW the same year, receiving rave reviews from publications such as The New York Times, Vogue, Brooklyn Vegan and NME. Off the back of SXSW she signed with Transgressive Records, Polyvinyl Record Co. and Liberation Music and showcased at The Great Escape Festival in the UK. Following the release of the album, she went on to perform at major festivals including Glastonbury Festival, Latitude Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Splendour in the Grass and Falls Festival.
In January 2017, Julia Jacklin was named "Next Big Thing" at the FBi Radio SMAC Awards for 2016 before she embarked on another extensive tour of Europe. She achieved various award nominations including ARIA Charts Female Artist of the Year, J Award for Album of the Year, as well as APRA Music Awards of 2017 Song of the Year for her single 'Pool Party'.
''"Eastwick" / "Cold Caller"''
In September 2017, Julia Jacklin released a 7" single featuring two songs, once again recorded with producer Ben Edwards in Lyttelton, New Zealand.Touring in support of the single, Jacklin headlined Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on top of selling out shows in Los Angeles, New York City, Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney and cities throughout the United Kingdom.
Phantastic Ferniture
In 2014, Jacklin formed the indie garage group Phantastic Ferniture along with members Elizabeth Hughes and Ryan K Brennan.In May 2018, the band released their debut single "Fuckin 'n' Rollin", accompanied by a music video directed by Nick McKinlay. In July 2018 the band released its self-titled album, produced by drummer Ryan K Brennan. The album featured subsequent singles "Gap Year", "Bad Timing" and "Dark Corner Dance Floor".
''Crushing''
In March 2018, Jacklin confirmed, via social media, that she had completed her second album. The album was recorded with producer Burke Reid and features Blain Cunneen, Dominic Rizzo, Clayton Allen, Harry Fuller and Georgia Mulligan. Singles released prior to the album's release included "Body", "Head Alone", "Pressure To Party" and "Comfort". Crushing was released in February 2019, and was warmly received by critics with an average score of 85 on Metacritic, based on 26 reviews from mainstream publications. In light of the release of Crushing, Jacklin came at number 4 in Happy MagJacklin has stated that the song, "Head Alone" was written about personal boundaries, contrasting with the encroachment of her personal and physical space during album tours and relationships.
The tour in support of Crushing has included festival dates at Shaky Knees Music Festival, Latitude Festival and Forecastle Festival, as well as sold out headline shows for the majority of her world tour.
Musical and visual style
Allmusic described her music as a "meld of dreamy indie pop and confessional alt-country", while she cites as her influences Doris Day, The Andrews Sisters, Björk and Billy Bragg. She has also mentioned Fiona Apple and Leonard Cohen as influences.In an interview with Sound of Boston, Jacklin notes her music video style is inspired by Lars Tunbjörk, a Swedish photographer who captured the mundane and absurd moments of modern life. Jacklin has co-directing credits on all of her music videos to date. In February 2019, Stella Donnelly released a music video for her single "Tricks", in which Jacklin co-directed with longtime collaborator Nick McKinlay.
Awards and nominations
At the APRA Music Awards of 2017, Jacklin was nominated for Best Female Artist for her debut album Don't Let the Kids Win. Photographer and frequent collaborator Nick McKinlay was also nominated for Best Cover Art for the album. Her single "Pool Party" was nominated for Song of The Year at the APRA Music Awards of 2017 alongside the likes of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, DD Dumbo, Amy Shark and Tim Minchin.Don't Let the Kids Win also won Best Independent Blues and Roots Album at the 2017 Australian Independent Record Labels Association Awards.
At the ARIA Music Awards of 2019, the album Crushing was nominated for six awards; Best Female Artist, Best Adult Contemporary Album, Best Independent Release, Producer of the Year, Engineer of the Year and Best Cover Art.
In February 2020, Crushing was nominated for the Australian Music Prize of 2019.