Review

Julia Jacklin

Pre-Pleasure

Transgressive • 2022

If an attempt at masturbation fails because you suddenly remember your own childhood and upbringing, then something is amiss. Following her outstanding empowerment album »Crushing«, singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin is once again unrelenting in her self-reflection and »Pre-Pleasure« continues to explore an approach to herself and her fellow human beings. But the climax is one of those things for the Australian, who occasionally swaps the guitar for the piano on her third album. Thus, her shy and empathetic attempts sometimes seem like an implied cry that deliberately manages to avert an emotional explosion when she just barely maintains control with clenched fists in the chorus of »Love, try not to let go«. Overseeing the 32-year-old’s accomplished songwriting is co-producer Marcus Paquin (The National, The Weather Station), who infuses Jacklin with the same urgency in the intimate moments as she does when her live Canadian band propels her forward. At most, there are still hints of the folk from their debut album, which is beneficial to » Pre-Pleasure«, since everything sounds more pointed and purposeful. Nevertheless, the ten emotional songs feel like a long, long fuse, where you anticipate a bang the whole time, which subsequently never comes. Thus she gets unbearably close to the climax, but cuts off shortly before.