Preview: Angus and Julia Stone

Cast your mind back through the annals of chart history and it’s easy to find oodles of musical families.

From the Osmonds to the Jonas Brothers, what is the endless appeal of these genealogical groups? Is it perhaps a shared pool of emotional experiences that lets them write and compose sincere and honest songs, or is it more simply that hours spent in the back seat of the family Volvo on long, hot summer holidays allow them to perfect those tight harmonies?

It would certainly appear that this particular familial duo, hailing from Australia, did spend a good part of their youth singing their little hearts out. Now touring their second album, Down the Way, Angus and Julia Stone seem like the ultimate family band. We all know that the need to share is key to a harmonious family but, to the annoyance of some, the Stone family have a habit of sharing the vocals from song to song; Julia’s pained and high-pitched voice is the antithesis to Angus’s more laid-back West Coast vibe. But this aside, the intimacy of tracks such as the Martha Wainwright-produced ‘And the Boy’ or the big single of the album ‘Big Jet Plane’, offer up some indie folk-rock that mixes strings, electric and acoustic guitar and that, while uncomfortably twee for some, is undoubtedly well put together.

By all accounts they seem to have pulled off the difficult second album and they had quite the job to do after 2007 debut A Book Like This, which came with a beautifully illustrated book, proved to be one of the highest selling Australian albums of the year.

So if you can forgive the passing back and forth of the microphone, just enjoy the dreamy, heartfelt music-making that the family Stone do so well.

April 23rd, 2011. Sala Bikini, 10pm. €22 + admin fee (Buy tickets in advance from: FNAC, Carrefour, Gong Discos, Ticketmaster.es, Doctormusic.com)