The Radiohead album that changed Julia Jacklin’s life
Confessional yet understated, Julia Jacklin has emerged from Australia as one of the most important members of the country’s alternative scene. Described best as indie-folk, Jacklin found success with her debut album Don’t Let The Kids Win in 2016, however, it wasn’t until 2019 that she gained further attention with her stellar follow-up Crushing.
The songwriter was praised for her intimate lyrics of self-discovery which she explored as the result of a tough break-up. She sings powerful lines such as “Don’t know how to keep loving you/ Now that I know you so well” and “Started feeling like myself again/The day I stopped saying your name,” demonstrating her emotive writing skills.
It comes as no surprise that Jacklin cites artists such as Fiona Apple and Leonard Cohen as inspiration – both artists have an extraordinary talent for writing. However, another one of Jacklin’s biggest inspirations and favourite albums is Kid A by Radiohead.
Radiohead released Kid A in 2000, a world away from their 1997 critically acclaimed album OK Computer. After the rock-heavy effort, the band decided to take a slightly different route inspired by electronics, ambient music, krautrock, classical music, and jazz.
Despite much of the lyrics on Kid A being cut-up phrases or repetitive lines, there are still many stand-out lyrical moments on the album, namely in ‘How to Disappear Completely,’ which contains the lyrics “I walk through walls/ I float down the Liffey/ I’m not here/ This isn’t happening.”
However, Jacklin asserts that it was ‘Idioteque’ that made her fall in love with the masterful album and changed her life. The electronic track, perhaps the most unique track the band had to their name at that point, contains glitching danceable beats which back Thom Yorke’s paranoia about the rapid rise of technology.
She said: “I was at my neighbours house when I was about 12 or 13. He was a few years older than me and had a very ‘cool’ taste in music. At that age I was just kind of pretending to like things and pretending to hate things based on other people’s opinions. I didn’t really know what I liked. Then I heard ‘Idioteque’ and my mind was forever blown! A lot of teenage angst was soothed by the songs on this record.”
Although the electronic sounds of ‘Idioteque’ may not have directly inspired Jacklin’s sound, the influence of the painfully honest lyrics and mellow tone of other Kid A tracks such as ‘Motion Picture Soundtrack’ is definitely present in her sound.
Jacklin’s most recent album Pre-Pleasure was released on August 26th, with overwhelmingly positive reviews thus far.
