Julia Jacklin

“These new lines on my face spell out ‘girl pick up your pace’ if you want to stay true to what your younger self would do.” - Motherland Julia Jacklin thought she’d be a social worker. Growing up in the Blue Mountains to a family of teachers, Jacklin discovered an avenue to art at the age of 10, thanks to an unlikely source: Britney Spears. Jacklin chanced upon a documentary about Spears while on family holiday. “By the time Britney was 12 she’d achieved a lot,” says Jacklin.”I remember thinking, ‘Shit, what have I done with my life? I haven’t achieved anything.’ So I was like, ‘Mum, as soon as we get home from this holiday I need to go to singing lessons.’ Classical singing lessons were the only kind in the area, but she took to them. And after a stint travelling overseas, Jacklin returned to a band with friend Liz Hughes, bonding over a love of indie-Appalachian folk trio Mountain Man and the songs Hughes was writing. Growing in confidence, Jacklin began educating herself further. From Fiona Apple she learned to be bold with words; from Anna Calvi, the cut and presence of electric guitar; and from Angel Olsen, that interpretation triumphs over technique. Now at the age of 25, Jacklin’s had time: to examine her turns of phrase, to wonder who she was and who she might become. That document is Jacklin’s masterful debut album, Don’t Let The Kids Win - an intimate examination of a life still being lived. Recorded at New Zealand’s Sitting Room studios with Ben Edwards (Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding, Nadia Reid), Don’t Let The Kids Win courses with the aching current of alt-country and indie-folk, augmented by Jacklin’s undeniable calling cards: her rich, distinctive voice, and her playful, observational wit. “I thought it was going to be a heartbreak record,” says Jacklin of Don’t Let The Kids Win. “But in hindsight I see it’s about hitting 24 and thinking, ‘What the fuck am I doing?’ I was feeling very nostalgic for my youth. When I was growing up I was so ambitious, then you get to mid-20s and you realise you have to focus on one thing. Even if it doesn’t pay-off, that’s the decision you make.” Those decisions accrue experiences. You can hear it in opener ‘Pool Party’, atale of substance abuse by the pool; in the sparse, ‘Elizabeth’, about wrestling with both devotion and admonishment of a friend; in the slow-motion banality of a relationship breakdown in the woozy ‘L.A Dreams’. The album hums with peripheral insights, minute in their moments but together proving an urge to stay curious. “All my friends at this age are freaking out. Everyone’s constantly talking about being old. I’m saying. yeah we’re getting older but it’s not so special. It’s not unique. Everyone has dealt with this and it’s going to keep feeling weird. So I’m freaking out about it too but trying to convince myself: let’s live now and just be old when we’re old.” “I’ve got a feeling that this won’t ever change We’re gonna keep on getting older It’s going to keep on feeling strange” - Don’t Let The Kids Win