Angus & Julia StoneThere is nothing quite like the experience of having been a moody teenager when Angus & Julia Stone’s Big Jet Plane came out.
With a sleepy melody and hazy sonic palette, it distils the duo’s very particular talent: making the listener feel as if they are pulling the covers up in bed, about to sink into a pleasant dream. First released under Angus’ Lady Of The Sunshine moniker in 2009, the song was a runway success when the siblings combined their efforts, winning the 2010 edition of triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown.
Now, the beloved studio duo are about to remind us of this special talent – a talent that has bequeathed them Aussie indie darling status – as they gear up to release their seventh studio album, Karaoke Bar, on September 4th.
The album was born on Hydra – a picturesque Greek Island famous for the bohemian artist paradise it cultivated in the 1960s. Indeed, the album’s lead single – also called Karaoke Bar - was recorded mere steps away from Leonard Cohen’s former home.
Over a mid-morning phone call, Julia gushes about how inspiring she and her brother found the location to be. “It’s this bizarre and wonderful place,” she enthuses.
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
The island, she explains, recalls a bygone era. “There are no cars. There are people in suits smoking cigarettes all day, cats and donkeys everywhere. It’s incredibly beautiful, the Aegean sea is right there, and the Mediterranean heat…” The nostalgia in her voice is palpable as she describes Saharan sand coating the island and tingeing the sky red.
Cohen’s historical relationship to the island only adds to its mystical atmosphere and scenic beauty. “There are streets named after him,” Julia explains. “It’s a trip. You’ve got these ferries of tourists coming who are Leonard Cohen fans going to all the places that he used to have coffee.”
The studio the two recorded at crested the top of a hill. “It had these incredible old tape machines and very heavy gear that we all had to get up the mountain without cars. Because everything is quite difficult -– you’re carrying all of your guitars by hand – you get up there and you’re exhausted. And then you don’t want to leave.”
Huge glass windows overlooked the sea as they recorded. The studio was foggy with cigarette smoke. “It’s very cosmic, very trippy, sort of what I imagine studios in the ‘70s were like.”
People were coming and going, stopping by for a chat whilst Angus and Julia were in the middle of a take. “Once when Angus went down to get a drink, there was this beautiful man in the kitchen in a full suit, chatting away, smoking ciggies with the guys who run the studio.”
Angus, apparently, thought the man’s resemblance to Cohen was striking. “It turns out that it was Leonard Cohen’s son, Adam,” she recalls. “So we ended up hanging out with him.
“He’s a beautiful songwriter in his own right. We sat around the kitchen table singing songs and talking about life…We grew up with Leonard being such a huge part of our lives, and our parents played his records all the time. So all of that stuff contributed to the feeling of writing this record.”
She gushes, “We were just so full of joy all the time. I just think we were having a lot of fun. When I hear the record now, it feels like the fun is in there.”
Karaoke Bar certainly encapsulates the mood: it is heavy with a drowsy sort of nostalgia, recalling lazy days spent on sand or in sea. It also possesses a cheeky interpolation of Sweet Caroline. “If you look at the credits, it’s actually a co-write with Neil Diamond,” Julia says. “There’s lots of references to songs in there, songs that are classic karaoke moments that connect with people.”
Angus & Julia Stone, since their formation in 2006, have long been labelled as folk music – a characterisation that Julia thinks is “interesting.” Their lyrics definitely have a strong storytelling quality, she agrees, but she often thinks of folk as being even more entrenched in narrative. “I think we’re somewhere between that and I don’t know what,” she says, laughing.
When writing, producing, and recording, the goal is always to stay open-minded. “We’re just trying to follow our noses down whatever road opens up in the moment. When we first started, we didn’t know how to use plug-ins or operate gear. And now that we have a lot more ability in the studio, we can really explore these different sounds.
“That’s how we end up creating: we put a lot in, and then we like to take stuff out,” she adds. “It’s like that classic Chanel idea – take off that last piece of jewellery,” referencing Coco Chanel’s famous adage: “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory.”
Angus and Julia are brother and sister, a fact that could strain a working relationship. Likewise, being coworkers could also strain a familial relationship. But, after a moment’s thought on the topic, Julia says, “I don’t know that it affects the music… We had to develop communication skills that we didn’t grow up with in our family.
“That was a bridge we had to cross that we didn’t realise we had to cross until we were standing there. But we sort of fumbled our way through, and the music part of it was always what kept us coming back to figuring it out.”
If they weren’t making music together, their relationship would probably be less steadfast, she admits. “Had we just been in a regular familial situation, we probably would just see each other at Christmas, and be like, ‘Hey how ya doing?’”
Both are prolific songwriters: in his spare time, Angus makes music under the moniker Dope Lemon, and Julia has her own solo project, under her own name. “I think it’s important for us to have those solo projects, because we obviously are very unique in our way of expressing ourselves.
“And I think Angus & Julia, as a project, is sort of like this place where we meet and collaborate and find a middle ground,” she adds. “Both of our styles and both of our ways of expressing merge together.”
Having outlets for individual expression feels crucial. “Especially being brother and sister, it’s important for us to have that space.”
Their creative relationship specifically, has less to do with being brother and sister and more to do with all the time they have spent together over the years. “It’s sort of formed both a mutual respect for each other as artists and also a shorthand in the way that we work together,” notes Julia.
“There’s a lot of unsaid understanding about where we’re taking the music, and what choices we’re making. We don’t really have to explain ourselves to each other, and I think that helps a lot in the studio.”
It is a situation that makes both of them feel safe and supported. “You can have that with anybody, it’s just you’ve got to spend the time building that foundation.”
It is no wonder then, that they manage to create the kind of music that is imbued with warmth and safety. Together, with each other’s trust, they transport. Angus & Julia Stone can take the listener on a jet ride, to the Chateau Marmont, or to the sun-bleached sand of a Greek Island.
Angus & Julia Stone’s Karaoke Bar single is out now, with their album of the same name arriving on September 4th.
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
