For her third full length solo release, Julia Jacklin has taken a step in a (slightly) different direction.
Julia’s sweet, angelic voice has gone nowhere, and remains firmly at the front of the mixing. However, the gentle, swinging drums and warm guitars have been partially replaced. Pre-Pleasure sees an introduction to synths, drum machines and grimier instrumentals backing Jacklin’s lyrics. This serves to create a juxtaposition between her deeply human vocals and the robotic drum machines. However, this new sound doesn’t feature on the entirety of the LP. Which unfortunately leaves us with a disjointed feeling from song to song.
The faster and fuller cuts on the album, such as the outro of the opener ‘Lydia Wears a Cross’. Will have listeners reminiscing about her garage rock band, Phantastic Ferniture. Phantastic Ferniture haven’t released music since 2018. However, there are moments on Pre-Pleasure where Julia’s clear love of dizzying garage rock shines through.
Her voice has always spoken for itself, but personally it’s Jacklin’s lyrics that I have always found so captivating and moving. Especially on her previous album, Crushing. On Pre-Pleasure, we are treated to some lovely witticisms. There are lyrics on ‘Ignore Tenderness’, that both bring a wry smile to the face, and a tear to the eye. That being said, repeat listens are the only way you’ll truly be able to engage with the entirety of her writing on this album. There are very few chorus driven sing-a-longs. Not that that has ever been Jacklin’s modus operandi. The lushness of the instrumentals often hurry you past certain sections of songs. On ‘I Was Neon’, we do get hookier lyrics and a strong chorus. Rather than the poetic verses that have become a hallmark of hers.
The album does slow down towards the middle. In these tracks especially, Julia’s vocal range and command of her voice do a lot of heavy lifting. ‘Too In Love to Die’ is a prime example of this. It isn’t a belter, nor are the lyrics particularly moving, but her voice is so free, and at full strength.
‘Less of a Stranger’ is also a more “traditional”, Julia Jacklin track. It tugs on the heart strings as Jacklin pours her anxieties out into the song. With the lyric ‘Do my questions and my pain, Take like skin to the razor’, highlighting her lyrical expression and ability to employ vivid imagery through metaphor.
Then all of a sudden we get the opening bars of ‘Magic’, and I find a cheesy grin plastered across my face, and my stomach turns. The forward marching beat and Jacklin’s haunting voice jolt you into remembering youthful summers, long lost loves and flowers in your flowing hair (which you may or may not of ever had). ‘Magic’ tees up the last three tracks. Next come ‘Be Careful With Yourself’ and ‘End of a Friendship’. The album finishes with an assertiveness and a sense of purpose from Jacklin, that reassures you that you’re in very capable hands. The last three songs, really showcase where she is at as an artist too. She’s a different person to when she she released her first album. Now too, we are getting to somewhere musically, that is moving away from ‘Don’t Let the Kids Win’.
Overall, it’s the lack of cohesiveness between tracks and a noncommittal to a completely new sound, where the album comes unstuck. With a really strong opening couple of tracks and a memorable trio of closing tracks. The album gets lost in the middle. To the extent that the listener (and seemingly Jacklin herself) forgets that the beginning was teasing an entirely new direction from her previous two albums. I do hope we see an entire album of electronic and synth filled cuts from Julia soon. Tracks that utilise new instrumentation, paired up with a more aggressive, uptempo sound. such as ’Lydia Wears a Cross’ and ‘End of a Friendship’. As well as ‘Magic’, which is definitely a more stereotypically Julia Jacklin tune, are my highlights from the album.
