Julia Jacklin

Don’t Let The Kids Win

TRANSGRESSIVE. CD/DL/LP

Australian debutante’s none-more-lovelorn country noir.

Hailing from the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Julia Jacklin has her own version of Appalachian going on, her voice cool as winter and sultry as summer, as intrinsically sad as her songs’ distressing emotional punch. Working on a factory production line has probably reinforced her blues, but the liability of boys is her fatal weakness. Lead single Pool Party, underpinned by a waltz-like sway, pleads, “My heart is heavy when you’re high/So for me why won’t you try.” Same Airport, Different Man’s title alone says everything. “Loving you ain’t easy, babe, it’s just an LA dream,” reflects LA Dream, infused with a pining hollowness. Talking of LA, she shares a sense of inescapable fate with Lana Del Rey, but Jacklin’s delivery isn’t corrupted by victim status or risible fantasy, and her music (aide from a barrelling Coming Of Age) is bare-boned, close to Angel Olsen’s magnetic ache and thrum. A worthy addition to the genre.