‘The Navigator’: The album Julia Jacklin is eternally grateful for
There’s nothing more exquisite than hearing a musician talk about their favourite artists. It gives us a deeper look into the great musical minds of our time and forges fresh, surprising connections between the old and the new. When Australian singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin went record shopping at Amoeba Music in Hollywood, we caught a glimpse of the eclectic selection of albums that have, in one way or another, inspired her own brand of indie folk.
As she browses, Jacklin selects an eclectic mix of albums that have captured her heart over the years. Her choices span from Fiona Apple’s 2005 release Extraordinary Machine to Britney Spears’ pop masterpiece Blackout, boldly asserting, “Everybody can agree that ‘Break the Ice’ is one of the best pop songs of the last 20 years.” The Australian musician also highlights Belgian Afro-pop artist Zap Mama, a cornerstone of her childhood, and the Suspiria soundtrack, which unexpectedly inspired her 2022 album Pre Pleasure. Among her selections is a record she’s especially grateful for—The Navigator by indie rock band Hurray for the Riff Raff.
“I love all their records; I could have picked any one,” she explains. “But I’ve just been following their music for my whole music life. Before I made my first record, I was listening to Hurray For The Riff Raff, and I think Alynda [Segarra] is an incredible songwriter. This record is great. ‘Nothing’s Going To Change That Girl’, incredible. ‘Pa’lante’, incredible. I’m just grateful they’re making music at the same time I’m making music because then I get to have a little hero out there, which is so cool.”
The Navigator arrived in 2016 as Hurray for the Riff Raff’s sixth album, inspired by frontperson Alynda Segarra’s transformative travels through Puerto Rico and return to their hometown in The Bronx. The Navigator is a concept album that follows Navita, a fictional teenager who wakes up in a gentrified city of the future, inspired by Segarra’s own observations of Puerto Rico and New York while making the album.
They explained to Drowned in Sound: “She’s this very independent spirit, a tough girl. She feels very suffocated by the city, the poverty and how everyone is cramped together. She has this overwhelming feeling that something is wrong. And she’s also very ashamed of where she comes from. So that’s where The Navigator begins. It’s like this Wizard Of Oz story: Navi asks this wise woman to wake up the next day without remembering or recognizing anyone or anything. So this woman puts her to sleep for forty years; she then wakes up in the same city. In this future, gentrification has gone rapid.”
‘Pa’lante’, which Jacklin highlighted from The Navigator, is named after a Spanish phrase meaning ‘onwards’, with lyrics that recognise hardships faced by Puerto Rican people throughout history. The song pays homage to the community in which Segarra was raised in The Bronx and incorporates Pedro Pietri’s 1969 poem ‘Puerto Rican Obituary’ in its interlude. ‘Nothing’s Gonna Change That Girl’ explores the independent spirit of the album’s protagonist and mirrors Segarra’s own journey and search for identity.
Jacklin – who performed an intimate set to an enraptured audience at London’s Lyric Theatre earlier this month – is renowned for her breathtaking live performances and tender, deeply personal songwriting. Jacklin has spoken extensively about the artists who influenced her music, citing pop sensations Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears among her artistic muses, along with Leonard Cohen and Björk. Consistently evolving with every new release, it’s impossible to predict where her wealth of influences will take her next.
