Flower child pours her heart out

(© EMI Music)

Australian singer-songwriter Angus Stone was recently at the Botanique to present his solo debut Broken Brights in a sold-out Rotonde. Just over two weeks later, it is now his sister Julia’s turn. After the flower children parted ways, she also released a gripping solo album, By the Horns. Contrary to what one might suspect from her fragile delivery, she was always the more extravert of the duo whose enthusiastic folk-pop also met with acclaim in Europe. She enjoys talking extensively, even onstage, about the origins of her songs. She often adds, with a comic touch, that none of it is quite as tragic as it sounds. We can easily imagine it, after listening to her latest album. The moving title song is about how even a destructive relationship cannot expurgate the urge to be loved. Bryan Devendorf, the drummer of The National, was allowed to record his own drum section on her fragile folk-pop version of “Bloodbuzz Ohio”, but it doesn’t alleviate the sombre atmosphere. On the other hand, with respect to poetic mood, the heart-rending “The Line that Ties Me” is reminiscent of the young Leonard Cohen. And on the single “It’s All Okay”, you hear someone trying to convince themselves that all is well after a breakup, even though it clearly isn’t. It drips melancholy.

Stone’s quivering voice happens to be at its strongest on the shaky border between hope and despair. To highlight her voice, she has conscripted a number of the best musicians from the New York scene. Among others, producer Thomas Bartlett and bassist Oren Bloedow (Elysian Fields, Antony & the Johnsons) give her delicate sound extra breathing space. The live band she is now touring with, however, consists of musicians from, among others, her Australian countrymen The Bamboos and The Cat Empire.

Julia Stone 29/10, 20.00, €23/26, Ancienne Belgique, boulevard Anspachlaan 110, Brussel/Bruxelles, 02-548.24.24, info@abconcerts.be, www.abconcerts.be