There’s something to be said for home comforts. That easy air of familiarity and that distinct, reassuring intimacy is especially important when making music. An importance that Julia Jacklin no doubt appreciated when it came to recording her fourth studio album.

The Gem feels a bit of a step-up for Jacklin. For her debut for legendary record label 4AD, the Melbourne-based musician set up shop in a converted studio above The Gem, a local pub where she spent her formative years. The album is named after that pub, and often feels like the sort of late-night confessional you may have over a few beers.

The last time we heard from Jacklin was 2022’s Pre Pleasure, a startlingly direct and personal album where weighty topics such as religion and sexuality were tackled. The Gem continues that approach, but in a way that blends that album’s polished pop with the more raw, acoustic approach of her earlier material.

Opening track Brand New is not quite brand new, but feels like a refresh of Jacklin’s sound – all delicately strummed acoustics that become more strident over the song’s running time. There are touches of Big Thief in the guitar and vocal interplay: a lovely, slow burn of a reintroduction into Jacklin’s world.

God Sometimes, which follows, is a more muscular proposition, a big, stirring guitar anthem which bounces along irresistibly. Those big ‘pop’ moments are some of the album’s best, with the gorgeously jangly Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon) being perhaps the most insistent earworm that Jacklin’s recorded to date.

As ever with Jacklin though, it’s the more emotional cuts that hit the hardest. Real Life is built around the hypnotic beat of a drum machine, lamenting a relationship that’s run its course (“had a dream that I treated you well, it felt like real life”) and Jacklin’s vocals is imbued with sadness. A similar sentiment is explored on The Hardest Thing, which may be more raucous but is equally emotionally raw: “the hardest thing to do is to believe it when you say I love you” runs the devastating chorus.

The Gem also sees Jacklin expanding and evolving her sound. It’s difficult to imagine her recording anything like Walk On Me back in her early days, a big, epic six minute track which moves from a hushed beginning to a huge, almost drone-like crescendo. Like more than a few tracks on The Gem, it reminds one of Sharon Van Etten on her wonderful Are We There album.

It all comes full circle at the end, with the folky acoustics of the closing I Wish. Like all the best break-up albums, it ends on a note of reflection and resilience, with Aussie sibling folk duo The Maes backing Jacklin up. The way that the Mae sisters’ voices blend with Jacklin’s, against the lovely, warm instrumental set-up, is goosebump inducing.

It all adds up to an album which will only enhance Jacklin’s burgeoning reputation as one of her generation’s finest songwriters. Sometimes, it seems, going back to your roots can only have a positive effect.