Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Julia Stone is singing Macy Gray’s I Try on a Zoom call from her home on the east coast of Tasmania.
“I try to say goodbye, and I choke,” she sings, having first panned the camera to show off what she calls her “magical” view.
The 1999 ballad is one of Stone’s go-to karaoke numbers, along with anything by Alanis Morissette and Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball. The appeal, she says, is singing something nothing like her own voice: the chance to step into the shoes of another character for three minutes.
Which is exactly the creative spirit behind Karaoke Bar, the joyful seventh album from Angus & Julia Stone, released on September 4, a collection of 10 songs born out of adventures across the world.
The record came about while the sibling duo were touring Europe and North America in 2024, playing the Living Room Sessions in support of their previous album Cape Forestier.
“We played all sit-down venues in beautiful old theatres around the world, and we had these gaps between each continent, and we were trying to figure out what to do with that time in between,” Stone says.
“The main thing we wanted to do was to have a break. We just wanted to have fun and go somewhere beautiful and inspiring, and hang out and eat good food and drink good wine and play cards.”
The somewhere beautiful turned out to be the Greek island of Hydra. So “happy and relaxed on holiday”, the pair stumbled on an “amazing studio” on the island and thought: why not write some songs?
Between swims in the Aegean and late nights writing, the title track took shape, capturing the playful intimacy of a night out singing with friends and strangers.
“A night at a karaoke bar can hold so much goodness. Everyone has the chance to be heard. And it’s so often more than that: a moment of real connection,” Stone says.
“We’re together singing with a roomful of strangers, and the things that normally separate us in life fall away.”
The album’s second song, Monroe, was born at Miraval Studios in the south of France, the legendary space built in the 1970s where Pink Floyd, The Cure and AC/DC all made records. Recently restored by Brad Pitt, Miraval gave the Stones a rare week between tours to immerse themselves in creation, along with “the smell of the lavender in the air, because there’s lavender fields everywhere”.
“It’s pretty exciting as a songwriter to be in places where artists have come and felt inspired to write and create,” she says.
“We recently played a TV show in France, just outside of Paris, at this crazy old amazing chateau. It’s also a recording studio where David Bowie and Elton John recorded, and there’s all these incredible photographs blown up on the wall of young Bowie, young Elton John in the space. It’s mind-blowing.
“I feel really grateful that these spaces exist in the world.”
From European escapades to reminiscing about Tokyo, back when you could still have “cigarettes in the cinema”, the album traverses fun and heartbreak, with a sound Stone likens to Chateau, the standout from their 2017 record Snow.
The duo, who rose to fame in 2007, will celebrate the release of Karaoke Bar with an intimate show in Canberra on September 5.
“Australian crowds are amazing,” Stone says.
“It’s always a really scary thing playing a new song in a set, but this record is going to be really fun to play live.”
West Australian fans have reason to be hopeful. Angus & Julia Stone were last here in December, playing Sandalford Wines in the Swan Valley on the Red Hot Summer Tour headlined by Crowded House.
“Honestly, it was magic, you know. The sun was setting. It was at a vineyard. It was just so beautiful, and it felt like Woodstock,” she says.
“Perth always feels very warm and welcoming.” She adds she is always up for shows in the South West.
After almost two decades touring the globe, Stone’s main takeaway is that “humans are pretty much the same everywhere”.
“I think the main difference is the venues in Europe are so crazy old. We played once in Lyon in France in an amphitheatre built 150 years BC, so it’s like you’re playing in ruins from another time.
“Our music, and the people that are fans of our music, are emotional people. They come to the shows and really celebrate the music, and that’s something you can’t distinguish between countries.
“It’s just humans being humans and being absolutely beautiful.”
