Pre Pleasure

Singer and songwriter Julia Jacklins second full-length, Crushing (2019), was a devastatingly raw and nuanced breakup album that broke her into the Top Ten in her native Australia. For the follow-up, she entered the studio with her third different producer in as many albums, Marcus Paquin (the Weather Station, the National), who helped open up her sound with assistance from a backing band that includes members of the Weather Station and, in a few cases, an orchestra featuring string arrangements by Owen Pallett. Another change-up on the resulting PRE PLEASURE, a record that seems to dwell in relationship(s) limbo, is that Jacklin wrote much of it on a Roland keyboard with built-in band tracks instead of on guitar. In the end, these differences, while notable, are somewhat subtle, as the songs still sound distinctively and intimately hers. The track lists sequencing loads the front end with midtempo soft rockers, including opener "Lydia Wears a Cross" ("Id be a believer/If I thought we had a chance"), which employs some of those canned drums, at least to start. Songs like "Love, Try Not to Let Go" and the elegant "Ignore Tenderness" ("Ive been thinking back/To when things went offtrack") continue to dig into underlying emotions and motivations while introducing minimal strings. The distortion-fueled, uptempo "I Was a Neon" then leads into the heart of PRE PLEASURE, the stark and vulnerable "Too in Love to Die," a Jacklin all-timer with only organ, acoustic guitar, and ghostly voice accompaniment, which is paired with the spare folk entry "Less of a Stranger." While the mood lifts for the remaining tracks, PRE PLEASURE never stops being affecting, with songs such as "Moviegoer," a slinky, evocative narrative about films ("Someone thin is smoking/With a look all-knowing"), their fans, and filmmakers ("40 million dollars/Still nobody loves you") that incorporates breathy, atmospheric woodwinds. Poignant closer "End of a Friendship" brings together expansive strings, a relaxed rhythm section, shimmery guitar delay, a tender, lyrical melody, and eventual squealing feedback before ending on the openers mechanical drums. Although Crushing is a hard act to follow, Jacklin pulls it off gracefully here, with an album whose dramatic arc and songs hold their own. ~ Marcy Donelson

オーストラリアのシンガー・ソングライターによる、共同プロデューサーにアーケイド・ファイアらを手掛けたマーカス・パクィンを迎えた新作。内省的なオルタナ・カントリーという前作の趣を残しつつ、フォーキーでより歌に焦点を置いた内容で、彼女の美しい楽曲が十二分に楽しめる。特にオーウェン・パレットがストリングス・アレンジで参加した曲は70年代のソフト・ロックにも通じる新境地の楽曲群と言っていい。
bounce (C)赤瀧洋二