Angus & Julia Stone Down The Way

So successful was Angus & Julia Stone’s 2007 debut, A Book Like This, the siblings had to make album number two during breaks between tours. Consequently Down the Way was recorded in multiple locations, from the typical (a studio in New York) to the picturesque (a converted saw mill on the banks of a Cornish river) to the unconventional (an empty water tank in Queensland). Musically the results hew close to the dreamy alternative indie-folk/pop of A Book Like This, albeit a little fuller and more fleshed out, as evidenced by the wilting strings and insistent rhythm of opener “Hold On”. Lyrically, however, a shadow looms over the album, as life on the road takes its toll—“Hold On” sees Julia tackling the end of a relationship, while the duo’s hit “Big Jet Plane” was inspired by Angus having to leave a paramour behind to go on tour. Even “Santa Monica Dream”, which paints an idyllic picture of friends in the backyard drinking wine, is shadowed by themes of distance and separation.