SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The Australian indie rock musician Julia Jacklin moved from Sydney to Melbourne about 10 years ago. She was 27. She quickly fell in love with a local bar and music venue called The Gem.
JULIA JACKLIN: It's on a pretty residential street, so at nighttime, it's like a light in the dark. It's kind of got an Americana aesthetic slightly but by an Australian viewpoint, so things are a bit wrong. And then you walk around the bar, go up an old staircase, and then you get upstairs, and to the right is where the studio is.
SIMON: The studio where Julia Jacklin recorded her new album. That album is also called "The Gem."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I HAD THE HAND OF GOD")
JACKLIN: (Singing) If I had the hand of God, would the God whose hand I have know not to leave you alone when you say you're feeling sad?
SIMON: It's difficult to record above a working bar and concert venue, but Jacklin accepted the challenge.
JACKLIN: Sometimes I feel, in a regular studio, the possibilities are almost endless for how you can make things sound, and that can feel overwhelming a little bit.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I HAD THE HAND OF GOD")
JACKLIN: (Singing) If I had the hand of God.
Or you can technically record anytime - so sometimes a bit hard to know when to stop. Whereas at The Gem, we couldn't play certain times because there was a live band playing downstairs most nights. The kitchen's below the control room, so we'd have to ask the kitchen staff if they could just turn the radio down slightly.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BRAND NEW")
JACKLIN: (Singing) Today, I won't say a word.
So the first song on the album is called "Brand New," and I'd gotten quite obsessed with Madonna's music album. That album, in particular, has this, like, relationship between acoustic guitar and electronic sounds. I don't know how to make electronic music. And so we were trying to just make that kind of music but just with what we had.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BRAND NEW")
JACKLIN: (Singing) Brand new, brand new, brand new.
There was this point where I was like, I really feel like I want to have laser sounds. And I was doing it in the studio. I was like, you know, like, like, (imitating laser sound) doo. We were sitting there, with four of us, and we were all just trying to make laser sounds with our mouths.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BRAND NEW")
JACKLIN: (Singing) Brand new, brand new. Doo. Doo. Doo. Doo.
"Walk On Me" - it's my longest song. I just had a really enjoyable time recording that. I felt very present. And the song itself is just - it's one of those ones that I'll never be fully honest about what it's about because I'll probably get sued for defamation or something.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WALK ON ME")
JACKLIN: (Singing) Walk on me if you like. Take off your shoes. Turn out the light.
It's just about being in a situation with another person where are just embarrassed by how they treat you, but you don't know how to get out of it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WALK ON ME")
JACKLIN: (Singing) What I let you do to me.
And so you're constantly trying to hide the way you're being treated. Because if people saw it, they would question your character and, like, why you let somebody treat you like that. Looking back, what gets you out of it is talking about it. But at the time, it can feel like that is too much, and you have to try to obscure what's happening to you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WALK ON ME")
JACKLIN: (Singing) Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah.
SIMON: Julia Jacklin's new album ends with a song called "I Wish."
JACKLIN: Now, that song is particularly about being 15 years old and about being 27 years old, which I would say were the two most difficult periods in my life.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WISH")
JACKLIN: (Singing) Oh, I wish I'd had help back then. Oh, I wish I'd had better friends. I was lost out there in the cold.
I always try to hold on to being a teenager and what that actually felt like, because I can tell that a lot of adults forget and then project onto teenagers. I feel like I was expected to have adult thoughts and maturity and understanding as a teenager. I just would have loved some more sympathetic adults in my life.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WISH")
JACKLIN: (Singing) Until it did, bit by bit. I remembered how to do it.
It feels like it's been my life's work to just really try to figure out how I feel and then try to figure out how to put that into words and then how to put those words into song. And that's been my life pursuit. There are so many other people who have other skills and talents that help me to live, and I'm just glad that that's my contribution.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WISH")
JACKLIN: (Singing) With no trees, not a drop of rain. Would not believe things could grow from pain.
SIMON: Julia Jacklin - her new album is called "The Gem."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WISH")
JACKLIN: (Singing) Until they did, ledge by ledge. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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