Julia Stone

Sixty Summers BMG. CD/DL/LP

Stone comes into her own with St. Vincent-assisted pop triumph.

Both as part of the indie-folk sibling duo Angus & Julia Stone and on two previous solo efforts, Sydney native Julia Stone has enjoyed moderate success over the past 15 years or so. She takes a leap forward here, though. Recorded with US producer Doveman and pop polymath St. Vincent,

Sixty Summers is a record of imagination and scope. There are songs that sound like dancefloor hits slowed-down and stripped for parts (spellbinding ballad Easy), jubilant pop (title track) and snarling electro-glam anthems (the Goldfrapp-ish Fire In Me). Almost every song boasts an indelible hook and a sense of longing at odds with Stone’s take-it-or-leave-it vocals. It’s the sort of effortless delivery a singer finds when they’ve been doing this for a while.