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The profile · researched 6 September 2026
From living rooms to ‘Karaoke Bar’: Angus & Julia Stone’s steady, singular ascent
Sydney siblings Angus & Julia Stone have rebuilt their duo twice over and arrive in late 2026 with a new album, Karaoke Bar (released 4 September 2026), and a run of intimate North American shows and festivals to match. Their story balances soft-spoken craft with long-haul endurance.
Northern Beaches beginnings and the first climb
The Stones grew up on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, the children of musicians who gigged at weekends; Julia learned trumpet, Angus taught himself guitar while recuperating from an accident, and by the mid‑2000s they were sharing open‑mic bills before deciding to work as a duo in early 2006. Their earliest recordings – the EPs Chocolates & Cigarettes (2006) and Heart Full of Wine (2007) – were made simply, some of it literally in the family living room, a spirit that set the tone for a career that prized intimacy over flash. One of their first proper paydays arrived at the Homebake festival in 2006, just as the EPs were circulating and word of their harmonies spread.
The debut album A Book Like This followed in 2007 and travelled beyond Australia after a London stint working with Travis frontman Fran Healy, helping to introduce their split‑lead, brother‑sister songwriting dynamic to audiences in the UK and Europe. Those early years baked in the approaches that would always return later: unguarded duets, alternating perspectives, finger‑picked guitar with brass and harmonica flecks, and sets that felt as if you’d stepped into their lounge.
The breakthrough that wouldn’t let them go
Down The Way (March 2010) shifted them from small rooms to theatres. “Big Jet Plane” – re‑worked from an Angus solo cut – became the year’s Australian radio lodestar, topping triple j’s Hottest 100 of 2010 and collecting ARIA Single of the Year; the album itself took ARIA Album of the Year and Best Adult Alternative Album, with additional artisan awards for production and artwork. Those wins codified their standing at home and gave the pair a standard that still anchors every set.
The run after that could have unspooled them. Instead, they practised the art of stepping away and returning with purpose. By the time they reconvened for a self‑titled 2014 record with Rick Rubin – a deliberate restart cut between Malibu and Australia – they had learned how to keep the partnership intact even as each voice pulled the other into new melodic shapes. That album pushed them higher on European charts and seeded songs such as “Grizzly Bear” and “A Heartbreak” that have stayed live ever since.
Side roads, resets and ‘Cape Forestier’
A second reset came through games. In 2021 they wrote a suite of originals for Deck Nine/Square Enix’s Life Is Strange: True Colors, issuing the songs together as Life Is Strange; interviews at the time made clear how the brief – narrative, scene‑led, emotionally precise – nudged their writing into sharper focus. It also put their music in front of listeners who might never have found a folk duo otherwise.
They eased back into touring under their own name in 2024 around Cape Forestier (10 May 2024). Press in Australia framed it as a coming‑home album, much of it written and partly recorded in a living room; they marked the return with a run that placed mismatched lamps on stage and let the songs do the talking, including a 28 May 2024 Royal Albert Hall show reviewed as beginning at 9pm with a set that moved from Cape Forestier highlights to older favourites and even a left‑field Miley Cyrus cover. The record later picked up ARIA nominations for Best Adult Contemporary Album and Best Engineered Release.
2026: a new chapter called ‘Karaoke Bar’
The duo’s seventh studio album, Karaoke Bar, arrived on 4 September 2026, released independently via Virgin Music. Pre‑release materials – including a June video for the title track, Apple Music and Qobuz listings, and a pre‑save countdown on Spotify – set the date and sketched a palette leaning into night‑life glow and communal sing‑back. The official store lists the album across formats with a 4 September release, and the press in the UK tied the campaign to intimate shows where the new songs bedded in quickly.
Singles paved the way: the title track landed 6 May 2026; “Monroe” followed on 26 June; “Celestial Bodies” surfaced in late July and was quickly folded into the set. In interviews around London club dates, the pair described writing sessions that bounced between Greece, France and Australia, and talked about the album’s fascination with the way a bar full of strangers can become a choir for three minutes.
On stage this year: small rooms, close focus
Through early summer 2026 the Stones kept venues modest on purpose. At London’s KOKO on 1 July they opened with “Losing You” (from 2024’s Cape Forestier) into “Nothing Else” (2017’s Snow), then previewed “Monroe”; a talk‑box interlude from keyboardist Aaron Mendoza tipped a hat to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”, and a mid‑set cover of Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” underlined how their arrangements can recalibrate a pop ballad into something hushed and conversational. Reviewers noticed the amber‑lit lamps, the star‑field backdrop and Julia’s trumpet breaks; that show closed on “Santa Monica Dream”, the room almost silent.
Other European dates reported similar pacing – Paris’s Trianon on 30 June drew notices for blending Cape Forestier material with early‑era cuts and the Life Is Strange songs – while festival stops across July (including Slot Zeist in the Netherlands and Jardin Sonore in France) showed how the karaoke‑bar idea works in the open air: throw the chorus line wide and let the crowd carry it. Setlist logs through July show 15–16 songs on typical headline nights, with the new title track and “Celestial Bodies” sitting alongside “Private Lawns”, “Yellow Brick Road”, “For You” and the inevitable “Big Jet Plane”.
Where they stand now (September 2026)
As of 6 September 2026, Karaoke Bar is out worldwide and the duo are pivoting to North America. Three small‑capacity shows at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever (Los Angeles) begin 14 September, before festival slots at Ottawa’s CityFolk (16–20 September) and Louisville’s Bourbon & Beyond (25 September). In New York, they play Music Hall of Williamsburg on 22 September with Caiola supporting, and Racket NYC on 23 September (again with Caiola), both listed by the venues/ticketing partners. The ticketing pages carry fan ratings in the high‑four‑out‑of‑five range, which tracks with the word‑of‑mouth that their shows are quietly communal rather than showy.
The broader picture is of a duo who keep returning to a centre that feels like home: sibling songs sung at human scale, new work introduced without fanfare, and rooms arranged to look like somewhere you might actually live. Twenty years in, that has become their edge.
The show, now
Right now the show is built for close quarters. Summer 2026 headline sets in Europe typically run to around 15–16 songs, opening on recent material (“Losing You”, “Nothing Else”) before folding in new pieces from Karaoke Bar (“Monroe”, “Celestial Bodies”, the title track) and then winding back through early favourites (“Private Lawns”, “Yellow Brick Road”, “For You”) with “Big Jet Plane” held for the sing‑along moment near the end. Reviews from London’s KOKO on 1 July describe amber floor lamps and a star‑field backdrop that recreate a living‑room glow; Julia switches between guitar and trumpet, and the band drop in one or two curveballs – “Stay With Me” re‑imagined as a hushed duet, or a talk‑box nod to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”. In the US this September, support acts are club‑scale and specific to the city – Caiola is listed as opener in Brooklyn and at Racket NYC – while festival slots at CityFolk (Ottawa) and Bourbon & Beyond (Louisville) lean into the call‑and‑response choruses of the new songs. Fan ratings on Ticketmaster hover around 4.8/5 and recent venue reviews praise the shows as intimate, unforced nights that feel like stepping into the duo’s shared headspace.
Researched from theguardian.com · abc.net.au · music.apple.com · music-news.com · aria.com.au · abc.net.au · au.rollingstone.com · theupcoming.co.uk
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