Julia Jacklin

Overview

Julia Jacklin's newest album is titled Don't Let The Kids Win. That paired with the fact that early childhood musical influences included, Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne and Evanescence, Julia's indie-folk, alt-country sound is not what you might expect.

For the month of January, Julia will be a temporary guest of the New Zealand music scene. In the early summer days, performing with Circuit Des Yeux in Aotea Square and then later at Laneway Festival. In the lead up she'll pop-up for a one-off show at Golden Dawn on December 8, performing carelessly and carefully songs such as 'Pool Party', 'Same Airport' and 'Elizabeth' all plucked from her recently released album.

Don't Let The Kids Win is anything but a handbook, and more like an advice column/collection of memoirs and discoveries of growing older or one day waking up and finding yourself closer to 30 than 20. Julia presents the race against time in a chill, relaxed manner with moments of panicked honesty. Lyrics that waver between the witty, lonely, weird and heart-wrenching.

Despite her album acting as a tribute to the 'glory days' of her nostalgic youth, Julia insists it's more of a figuring out 'what the hell I'm doing with my life' kind of collection with the persistent undertone that it's perfectly okay to not know what direction one is headed in. Not too shabby for a 25-year-old who has fondly found her niche among the large number of twenty-something year-olds who also feel that way, but luckily who have good taste in music.

With Julia's music there is no crowd pleasing, there is no conversation, it's more like a really honest, well-tuned storytime where one can choose to pay close attention to character and detail or allow themselves to relax to the smooth guitar melodies and make the mistakes that she so lovingly warns her audiences against.