There definitely seems to be a buzz around the brother-sister duo of Angus and Julia Stone right now. Maybe it was the line of people waiting to pile into the sold-out Sinclair Thursday when the doors opened that made it feel this way. Or maybe it’s because Rick Rubin produced their newest self-titled record and in the process reunited the siblings to record their best piece of work yet. Either way there is some sort of immeasurable buzz factor around them and you could feel it in the air. There was also something else in the air that had nothing to do with a buzz; romance. That’s right, it was like couples night at the Sinclair which made it clearly evident to me that if you’re in love, and you like some decent folk-pop-blues music, the Angus and Julia Stone show was the perfect night to treat your lucky lady to. Therefore a review of the show without mentioning the obscene amount of make-out sesh’s I witnessed would be an injustice, but nonetheless, on with the review!
Ultimately, the love birds came out because the majority of Angus and Julia’s Stone’s material center around themes of falling in or out of love, or one of the million little moments in between, like catching a first glimpse at someone or loving someone that doesn’t love you back. Usually, I’m not into this so much or so blatantly but their set never got too sappy so I dug it. I mean there’s so many really important things to sing about in the world like Ebola, or Syria, how could you be so obsessed with heavy emotional love songs Angus and Julia? Well, the truth is Angus and Julia are both so talented and have so much chemistry that they could probably write and sing about whatever they want and it really wouldn’t matter. That’s kind of how I felt about this entire show.
“A Heartbreak” opened the night and showed off their clean and crisp sound and vocals. Julia then played solo acoustic to start a slow and blissful “For You,” that turned on a dime into a passionate full band ballad. Trading off leads Angus stepped up to sing “Crash and Burn” which was an early highlight that had a progression reminiscent of Neil Young’s “Madman Across the Water,” culminating with a full band jam with peaks of some classic Hammond organ effects. Julia then sang and un-nameable little reggae tune that took on a John Butler Trio kind of vibe because of some banjo thrown in. “Little Whiskey” kept the middle of the set rolling and was the closest thing we got to a straight up rock song. “Main street” was dark and slow with some beautiful harmonies and trade-offs between the bro and sis. The harmonies in themselves are undeniably the biggest appeal to the act often becoming so seamless that they essentially just become one voice.
“Big Jet Plane” took on a slower more folky introduction but with such a strong melody it became familiar right away and eventually finished more like the studio version. “My Word for it” was another slower Julia tune and she took some time to tell the audience about the origins of the song which made it feel a bit like a Storytellers show. It turned out she was just killing time until Angus got a new freshly tuned guitar from a tech, but it did symbolize the audiences super-attentiveness and silence in between songs to the point where she felt like she had to kill dead air. I could actually hear the buildings vents at a few points and Angus often sat down in between songs also adding to the just very chill vibes of the night. The hits were there with “Grizzly Bear” and “Heart Beats Slow” and were both stellar and more expansive than their studio versions, but the highlight of the night was definitely Julia’s rendition of Drake’s “Hold on we’re going home,” which I wasn’t able to label as a Drake song until I hummed the catchy chorus “I’ve got my eyes on you” all the way home and looked it up.
It makes sense that Rick Rubin would be drawn to Angus and Julia Stone just like anybody else. First off, they are adorable, but even if they weren’t, they’re still both just incredibly talented and the way they work together adds even more to the fold. Add it all up and essentially you have the makings of one of the most palatable and endearing contemporary folk-rock acts out today.
