Julia Jacklin announces fourth album The Gem, shares first single "Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon)"

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The album was recorded entirely in Melbourne with co-producer Robert Muinos at Rat Shack studios, a space located above a Collingwood bar also called The Gem. Jacklin brought in friends Jacob Diamond (guitar), Mimi Gilbert (bass) ,and Jess Elwood (drums), and the sessions stretched to nearly a year – far longer than the two weeks she had originally planned.

“The Gem felt like a metaphor for the whole process, because a lot of it did feel like digging,” Jacklin says. “I felt like I was doing it almost in the dark, just trusting I was going to find something.”

The bar itself had become a touchstone for Jacklin early in her time in Melbourne. She describes discovering a small venue where bands pushed dining tables aside to set up on the floor, forcing herself out of her comfort zone to make the city her home. That same spirit of close-quarters collaboration shaped the recording: the band worked in converted hotel rooms above the pub, with sound bleed from the hairdresser next door and live music from downstairs. They played two unannounced shows at The Gem to test the songs before committing them to tape.

Jacklin will preview material from The Gem with a short solo tour of UK and Irish indie stores later this month, including dates in Brighton (Resident, 29 June), London (Rough Trade East, 30 June), Liverpool (Jacaranda, 2 July) and Nottingham (Rough Trade, 3 July). A wider North American, UK and European tour follows from October 2026 through 2027, including a London show at Eventim Apollo on 19 February 2027.

On the final day of sessions, the band got matching tattoos: a small circle representing an opal, Jacklin’s favourite gemstone, inked by one of the bartenders from The Gem. “It did really feel like we’d done something special together,” she says. “I’m glad we all have these little gems on us.”

This is Jacklin's first original studio work since the lauded 2022 album Pre Pleasure, which earned dozens of award nominations, including Best Solo Artist, Best Independent Release, and Best Adult Contemporary Album. Moving to 4AD for The Gem marks a break with her previous label home of Polyvinyl x Transgressive, which put out her first three records.