Earlier this year, Julia Jacklin suggested to Apple Music that what underpins the singer-songwriter’s process is a delicate balancing act between self-expression and artistic servitude. “I think making music in general is just an endless process of being so deep within yourself, but then you have to get over yourself to actually put it down,” she said. “You have to lose the ego in the studio, but you need the ego to write the music in the first place.” The Blue Mountains-born, Melbourne-based artist’s 2022 album PRE PLEASURE may contain what she calls her “most produced” sound to date, but it’s still as intimate, personal and often heart-wrenching as ever. Opening track “Lydia Wears a Cross” is a reflection of growing up in a conflicting environment where she grappled with religious rituals and values despite her family not being inherently religious. “When I was a child, I had no control over my own life, and that's when organised religion was the most prevalent,” she said. “Whereas now I can make my own choices, I can choose to stay out of those places.” Her reflection continues on “I Was Neon”, during which Jacklin pines for parts of herself that she’s lost—traits or aspects of herself that she’s felt slip away over time. “Am I gonna lose myself again?” she asks, in a repeated mantra that forms the chorus. Listen back to Julia Jacklin and more music that filled Heaps Indie with eclectic earworms throughout 2022.