Julia Jacklin: Crushing review – A major talent in full bloom

Julia Jacklin's second record after 2016's sublime Don't Let the Kids Win explores the feeling of being crushed by a myriad of things;old love, new experiences, the weight of history gone, the weight of what is to come. Crushing interrogates her anxiety, and creating and maintaining boundaries as a kind of bloodletting.

This record from the Australian singer-singwriter becomes another part of that ritual, and songs such as Body sound like a cathartic release, featuring a beautiful vocal, as ominous drums and bass moodily sit underneath her weary voice that wanders around thoughts about broken intimacy.

Within that narrative is a powerful endgame–finding her own agency, something each composition considers, in different ways. Head Alone details issues around too much intimacy, Good Guy is about too little; Head Alone, along with You Were Right, are the most uptempo, mirroring each other through building guitars.

The record's clean but warm minimalism is reminiscent of Sharon van Etten's 2010 Epic, where slow-burners scorched. Jacklin engages in a similar universe: Don't Know How to Keep Loving You, and the considered, piano-led When the Family Flies In creep in and devastate. A major talent.