It must have been sometime in early February when just about every indie folk-loving heart started beating a little faster. The cause was the return of Angus & Julia Stone; the duo that simply exudes the feeling of ‘campfire under the stars in the Australian outback’. And yet the word “return” feels a little out of place, as the brother and sister had never really been away. Angus toured as DOPE LEMON until last summer with his pink Cadillac and record Kimosabe traveling the world under her arm, Julia explored her own horizons with her solo debut Sixty Summers as well as her creative friendship with French singer Pomme. So they were still there, but in the end the two managed to make a difference when they were in harmony with each other.
Going from the more commercial successes such as “Big Jet Plane” in “Chateau” to hidden gems like “Crash and Burn” in “Draw Your Swords”; Angus & Julia Stone have actually been playing Champions Leaugue within their world for years. And then it all became a little more unclear. In times of the pandemic, this followed Life Is Strange something that lay between a forgotten album and the soundtrack of a video game, more recently three singles followed that, admittedly, mainly stayed under the radar. Previews of eighth studio album Cape Forester; a record that, according to the duo, should paint a kind of career-spanning picture. The acoustic sound from the early days in combination with stories of the people who Angus and Julia are today. But before your mouth waters as a fan – because this reads oh so beautifully – you can hardly deny that those forwarded singles really left you wanting more.
To get straight to the point: Cape Forester is not bad. It’s just boring. And at times even uninspired. That in itself is surprising, especially when you know that Angus & Julia Stone have proven in the past that they are exceptionally good at creating compelling songs. Songs that can really touch you. Something that now, out of twelve attempts, only works reasonably well one and a half times. Best on “No Boat No Airplane”, a song that sounds enormously promising in its darkness, doesn’t even get under the skin, but generally floats just a little too much on the surface. Well, no problem at all, because the song does mean something. This is, for example, in contrast to the return single “The Wedding Song”, which is bathed in cringe lyrics such as ‘We will make babies on the beach under the stardust’. The typical cliché ballad, perfect as an opening dance for the standard couple, but not something you expect from the Australians.
Unfortunately, it is just one of many examples of uninteresting, meandering songs Cape Forester is rich. The fact that the title track is a kind of auditory version of a rippling sunny afternoon, one like we have experienced a dozen before, did not predict anything surprising. The trip along the dark red rocks of Route 66 continues along the diptych “Country Sign” / “City of Lights”, which in retrospect could perfectly have been the same song. A song structure that holds up thanks to a slow tempo, dreamy chill and a nonchalant whistle? It could go perfectly for both. “Little Alaskan Anchor” in turn follows a somewhat similar line, either with a slightly more folky acoustic strum: rippling towards nowhere.
For Angus & Julia Stone, making music is not something that has to be done, but that it just happens. At least if we are to believe the accompanying bio. They feel at home together, especially when they write together. And yet you constantly have the feeling that if the two had tried a little harder, the end result would have been a lot better. “Somehow,” for example, contains snippets of what you want to hear from the duo; minimalist and light, but at the same time compelling and beautiful. The pity, however, is that that stamp is never really fully enforced. In “Down to the Sea”, for example, we get to hear half a bluesy solo towards the end, but before the experiment really sinks in, the star stops twinkling again. It was allowed Cape Forester so they are all just a little bit more.
In this way, Angus & Julia Stone have become a bit of a victim of their own abilities. The bar had been set to a certain extent by previous albums, but it was not achieved with this eighth. With this long player, the duo tried to summarize their career in a contemporary way, partly by returning to their roots; a nice idea in itself, but the execution ultimately turned out very flat. So flat, in fact, that you get the feeling that they have tried to imitate their DIY-like sincerity from the early days in a very polished way. In other words, the raw beauty gave way to slick, uninspired predictability. Waves that go nowhere. Or yes, to a good perspective in the distance, which is sometimes hit. Sometimes, in other words, too little. Not enough to continue to fascinate, with a heavy heart.
Op Monday 3 in Tuesday June 4 Angus & Julia Stone are in the Royal Circus. They do it in the Netherlands Tuesday 11 in Wednesday June 12 the Royal Theater Carré.
Discover “No Boat No Airplane”, our favorite song from Cape Foresterin our Picture of the Plate-playlist op Spotify.
