Adelaide musician Jackulson has unveiled what is arguably set to be one of the most arresting and mesmerising tracks of the year, sharing the majestic “Tracy Hill” today.
The musical moniker of South Australian songwriter Jackson Phillips, Phillips has spent plenty of time showcasing their post-punk roots, having performed in groups such as Oopsie Daisy and Bart’s Nightmare, with Jackulson harnessing a broad spectrum of genre influences to create something truly unique and rarely seen.
Sharing debut EP Lisa’s Daydream back in June, listeners were invited into a truly captivating world, with elements of chillwave and industrial music blending with resonant vocals and warping guitars to craft soundscapes and textures like no other.
Now, Jackulson has continued to illustrate their truly distinctive sound, with new single “Tracy Hill” arriving today. Using their trademark to composition and production, “Tracy Hill” centres around a narrative that is contradictorily composed and disjointed, leaving the listener mesmerised at every turn. As guitars and bass weave in and out along the way, Phillips’ vocals are front and centre as they contemplate on the banality of life and the urge to disappear.
“‘Tracy Hill’ was written with the intent of giving me heaps of collapsing chorusy echoed chords to jam vocal melodies over,” Phillips explains.
“A lot of other stuff I do is based around little interlocking guitar/bass parts so it was refreshing to just go and bliss out on some waves of stereo delay like Arthur Russell (while channeling some up-tempo 80’s adult contemporary pop along the way). As for the lyrics, they’re just a bit of a semi-gothic moan about disappearing.”
Paired with B-side “Spiderweb Picture”, Phillips describes it as “an oversaturated synth-string dusty-guitar mid-paced kind of song”, noting that the songwriting is heavily rooted in the emo genre, with production bolstered by the chillwave genre. “The Cure and Unwound are probably the bands that have had the longest lasting influence on me,” they add.
While it remains to be seen just what will come next from Jackulson, tracks such as “Tracy Hill” and its accompanying B-side prove that they’re an artist determined to keep evolving, pushing boundaries, and above all, truly flooring the listener at every turn.
Jackulson’s “Tracy Hill” is officially released today via Swirl Records.
