Angus and Julia Stone

Let’s cut to the chase. The captivating third, self titled album from ANGUS & JULIA STONE, is the best record the siblings have ever made, a record born of spontaneity, and totally unplanned.

“It took a while to get to a place where we thought it was a good idea,” they admit. “We were enjoying the time apart, enjoying our different directions. There was no conversation of, ‘When are we doing another Angus & Julia record?’ It never even came up.” In fact, the pair, over the last couple of years on solo adventures never even saw each other,
aside from unexpectedly bumping into each other on the street in Paris.

It took the legendary US producer to spark the flame. From Jay Z to the Beastie Boys, Johnny Cash to Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Rick Rubin knows good music. After Rubin heard Angus and Julia’s music playing at a friend’s party he decided he had to get in contact with them. Julia received an email from one of the notorious producer and former Def Jam head associates, who visited the singer at one of her NYC solo shows, urging her to take a meeting. Weeks later in LA, Julia met up with Rubin. “At that point I was saying, ‘but my brother and I aren't playing music together,” Julia recalls of the initial meeting. “Rick said, ‘well I’d really like to meet him too.”

You know their history, raised in Sydney’s northern beaches, after word-of-mouth heat and early EPs the brother and sister duo demanded attention with their 2007 debut, A Book Like This, which was produced in London by Travis’s Fran Healy. Three years later, and the result of endless tours through Europe, North America and Australia, Angus & Julia delivered the multi-platinum, ARIA-conquering Down the Way. Led by the gentle anthem “Big Jet Plane”, the band had it all, a #1 record, pole position in Triple J’s Hottest 100, ARIA trophies for Single and Album of the Year, invitations to play festivals like Splendour in the Grass, Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits and others. Years of touring internationally saw them selling out venues across Europe, playing to over 10,000 people at their Paris shows.

But their joint success had posed the question: could they do it alone? Angus & Julia had always been separate songwriters; initially, they’d never intended to be a duo. It was time to make a change.

And so, after wrapping tour commitments in New York City and Los Angeles Julia recorded her commanding second solo effort, By the Horns. Angus kept busy creating his own critically acclaimed release, July 2012’s Broken Bright’s. Both albums hit their mark, each songwriter reveling in the freedom of a singular vision. There was absolutely no plan to re-team.