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Feb 21, 2019Grunge-rinsed, feminist-flipped, upcycled Fifties guitar an’ all: Crushing is a triumph.
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Feb 21, 2019As a body of work, Crushing feels small, intimate and inward. But these are big songs, full of big ideas, from a big talent.
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Mar 14, 2019One of the most relatable, heartbreakingly specific albums of the year.
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Mar 1, 2019That sense of surprise, the risk-taking of an artist daring to dig for truth, no matter how inconvenient or uncomfortable it might be, isn’t something to be taken for granted. That it informs every song suggests that “Crushing” is likely to become one of the year’s enduring albums.
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Feb 25, 2019Few albums can make such bold statements without seeming heavy-handed, but Jacklin’s sophomore effort feels as natural as the words rolling off her tongue.
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Feb 22, 2019Crushing is the brave story of a woman--and an artist--coming into her own. Securing that agency, however, was no walk in the park. Jacklin clearly had to sort through mountains of wreckage to arrive here, but the album’s autobiographical nature is what makes it so affecting.
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Feb 22, 2019Even though many breakup references are scattered throughout Crushing, a strong sense of emotional progression is also woven in, flipping the narrative to be more positive in parts. Vivid lyricism personifies the album title in each track.
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Mar 8, 2019These songs are stamped full of her personality and they mark a major evolution as a songwriter. As the final chords of the heartrending Comfort ring out, it’s impossible not to think that yet another major Antipodean talent has put a new marker down.
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Mar 6, 2019Fans of Father John Misty, First Aid Kit and Sharon Van Etten are likely to be enamoured.
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Feb 26, 2019Jacklin sings like she’s reading entries from her journal back to herself. The confessional quality is amplified by minimal, unobtrusive production that places her superb voice and her acoustic guitar forward.
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Feb 25, 2019Many a songwriter has tortured themselves to twist and turn these experiences into new metaphorical shapes, but Jacklin has resisted. By laying out her honest realities in plain sight, she has not only allowed herself to heal, but she has offered a healing process to others.
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Feb 25, 2019It’s the ghostliest songs that’ll stay with you, though, from the soft piano and slo-mo catastrophe of When the Family Flies In to the obsessive elegy for a dying relationship in Don’t Know How to Keep Loving You.
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Feb 22, 2019When Jacklin isn’t waxing philosophical on mind-body duality, she’s simply showing the special way she processes the world around her. The result is a profound statement that stands as an early candidate for this year’s strongest singer-songwriter breakthrough.
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Feb 21, 2019Crushing is riveting right from the spare, noir-tinged opening track, "Body," which remembers the moment Jacklin decided to leave the relationship after her partner got them thrown off a flight.
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Feb 20, 2019This young Australian singer-songwriter made a real mark with her 2016 debut, Don't Let The Kids Win, and subsequent international touring, and this compelling album sets the bar higher.
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Feb 20, 2019While the talented singer’s debut album ‘Don’t Let the Kids Win’ was a sort of musical bildungsroman--the sometimes unsure steps of a new artist finding her path--the more assured follow-up is Crushing by name and brilliantly crushing by nature.
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Feb 19, 2019Unpacking messy feelings over delicate guitars, Crushing may have been born from a place of confusion, but Julia Jacklin’s voice sounds clearer than ever.
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Q MagazineFeb 19, 2019Despite the weight that hangs on its shoulders, Crushing doesn't feel defeated, rather it's the sound of a fearless songwriter putting the past to bed and regrouping stronger than ever. [Apr 2019, p.112]
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MojoFeb 19, 2019With these elegantly devastating songs, she carves put a space, and a class, all of her own. [Mar 2019, p.91]
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UncutFeb 19, 2019A family of songs that are strikingly evocative, but never overwrought. [Mar 2019, p.25]
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Feb 19, 2019Remarkably generous in its open nature, it further cements Jacklin’s place as a future alt-country great.
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Feb 27, 2019It’s hard not to tumble into Crushing’s vast emotional depths and look past everything else that makes the album exquisite, but lyrics like this showcase just how clever Jacklin’s songwriting can be.
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Feb 19, 2019She uses the body and the spaces it consumes and shrinks within as a driving theme throughout Crushing, uncovering the journeys her own body has taken as a romantic partner, a friend, a woman, and a world-touring musician.
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Feb 19, 2019Crushing is raw. Jacklin and the band aren't playing new sounds, but the groove is locked as she tells her story of heartbreak to her final breath.
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Mar 19, 2019She provokes an emotional groundswell in the quietest of moods, one acoustic song at a time. But the knotty, country rock groove of both Head Alone and You Were Right show that she can also shake off those doldrums. Maybe not as much as we’d like, but as she repeatedly denotes in Crushing, healing is an everyday process.
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Feb 20, 2019Life, love, heartbreak: none of it is particularly novel as musical material, but on Crushing, Julia Jacklin lets us learn from her experiences with her heart on her sleeve. There is a valuable perspective here, and truly moving music.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 45 out of 50
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Mixed: 3 out of 50
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Negative: 2 out of 50
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Mar 1, 2019
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Jul 23, 2020Stunning album. "Don't Know How To Keep Loving You", "Body" and "Comfort" are superb songs.
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May 27, 2020