With Julia Stone’s new record comes the grit and glitter of the city, and all its attendant joys and dangers, romances and risks. No longer content to merely explore the wildernesses of folk and indie-rock, Sixty Summers, Stone’s third solo outing, finds the celebrated songwriter diving headfirst into the cosmopolitan, hedonistic world of late-night, moonlit pop. Dirt under foot is replaced with wet pavement and sticky dancefloors; blue skies are traded for red lights and red lips. A dazzling reintroduction to the beloved Stone, Sixty Summers presents that rarest of transformations: not a metamorphosis or cheap makeover, but a shedding of skin, a revealing. It is Stone at her truest, brightest self, a powerful and revered icon finally painting herself with her own brush and her own palette.
This is a new quality for Stone’s music, but not one without precedent: ever since she was young, she has appreciated the transformative qualities of body-moving music. Touching on reference points as disparate as the avant-funk of Talking Heads (“Break”,) the romantic 2ammusings of Serge Gainsbourg (“Free”, “Dance”,) and the sleek, ecstatic synth work of Lorde’s Melodrama (“Substance”),Sixty Summers is an alluring, intoxicating project, a collection of dancefloor hymns that are equally wild and life-affirming. “Life is incredibly confronting for most humans,” Stone says. “Sometimes, the only thing you can do when it’s really overwhelming is to dance or sing. Even in the most dark moments, when we play music, we feel free.”
Julia Stone is coming to awaken the Christmas Spirit and celebrate the release of her new record Everything Is Christmas!
For Julia, Christmas has always had an element of magic. It is in the scent of an Australian summer - the smell of mangoes, of pine from the dying Christmas tree, of sunscreen and freshly cut grass. Magic is found in the familial food rituals - prawns after a long day at the beach, grandma’s pav, mince pies. The magic, too, is in the music - familiar, warm and comforting.
“Christmas music has always been such a beautiful and nostalgic part of my life,” says Julia. “This is a record I’ve always wanted to make. It has been in me for so long. These are some of the very first songs that really got under my skin as a kid. Familiar like that favourite jumper you will never throw away. It has been a dream of mine to make a record of my favourite Christmas songs, with my favourite people.”
Everything Is Christmas captures what Christmas means to Julia and undoubtedly countless others across 14 incredibly original renditions of favourites, all drenched in Julia’s signature vocal. From the fragility of songs like ‘River’ and the infectiousness of tracks like WHAM’s ‘Last Christmas’ and Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ to the beauty and sincerity of ‘Away in A Manger’ and mainstays like ‘Joy To The World’ and ‘Come All Ye Faithful’, this record is filled to the brim with nostalgia.
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