The Gem

Julia Jacklin’s The Gem is her fourth studio album, released September 25, 2026, and her first for 4AD. Co-produced with Robert Muinos and named after her favorite Melbourne pub, the ten-track collection brings her intimate indie-folk songwriting into a looser, occasionally jagged indie-rock setting. Its central concern is independence: how to remain open to love without losing a sense of yourself, and how to accept change without pretending the past never happened. Opener “Brand New” introduces the possibility of starting over, while “God Sometimes” gives that impulse a more assertive musical shape, building toward an exchange between guitar and Wurlitzer.

The arrangements give those questions contrasting emotional settings. “Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon)” uses bright jangle-pop to explore the negotiation between closeness and personal space, while “Walk On Me” brings a sharper guitar sound and an expressive solo. “Real Life” pairs harp with an insistent drum pattern, and the acoustic “Angel Vision” places greater emphasis on Jacklin’s voice. Closing track “I Wish,” featuring harmonies from The Maes, complicates the album’s self-reliance: surviving alone does not erase the wish that someone had been there. That tension gives The Gem its emotional weight, balancing confidence in personal growth with an acknowledgment of what solitude can cost.