Angus Stone: Music Has Always Been The Spirit Animal That Runs Ahead Of Us

ARIA Award-winning sibling duo Angus & Julia Stone are back with their seventh studio album Karaoke Bar, which releases on 4 September 2026.

At the time of writing, two tracks have dropped ahead of the release, offering a tantalising glimpse of a record that leans into joy, connection and shared experience. Title track Karaoke Bar is a warm, uplifting song written on the Greek island of Hydra near Leonard Cohen’s former home. Monroe explores love and fragility, drawing on evocative imagery of changing seasons and shifting tides.

Since their 2007 debut, Angus and Julia have worked with Rick Rubin, scored the ARIA Award-winning soundtrack for Life Is Strange, and sold out venues including the Royal Albert Hall, L’Olympia in Paris, and New York’s Town Hall.

Ahead of an intimate evening at London’s KOKO, I caught up with Angus Stone to talk about Karaoke Bar, the creative partnership he shares with his sister Julia, and why, after nearly two decades, music continues to lead them towards life’s most unexpected moments.

From the outset, Angus is warm, thoughtful and quietly philosophical. He answers questions in much the same way Angus & Julia Stone write songs, drifting naturally through stories, memories and observations before arriving somewhere unexpectedly profound. Rather than talking solely about melodies or lyrics, he speaks about places, people and chance encounters, all connected by an unwavering belief that music has a curious way of guiding life long before you realise where it’s taking you.

“I think for Julia and I, the music has always been the spirit animal that runs ahead of us and calls in really cool people,” he says. “That’s how it’s always felt.” It’s an idea that quietly threads its way through our entire conversation.

The inspiration behind Karaoke Bar began after the duo completed their recent Living Room Sessions tour, a run of shows that revisited their earliest days writing songs together. “We had just come off a big tour around the world,” Angus explains. “The Living Room Sessions were basically giving the audience an experience of being back in our living room where we started writing songs and figuring it all out. We were telling stories on stage about the full-circle moment of being here now compared to where we were when we were just kids.”

Rather than rushing home to write, the siblings decided to let inspiration dictate the schedule. “We finished up in Paris and decided we’d travel around to really special places and write songs if it felt right.”

Their first stop was Miraval Studios in the south of France. “I’m not sure if you know much about it,” he says. “Brad Pitt put a lot of energy into this really historic recording studio.”

It was there, while drinking wine and living in a small chalet, that Monroe emerged. “We had such a beautiful time there,” he recalls simply.

From France, they travelled to Hydra, the tiny Greek island forever associated with Leonard Cohen. Hydra immediately cast its spell. “It’s one of the strangest, most beautiful islands I’ve ever been to.”

As someone who holidays regularly in Greece, I know exactly what he means. We laugh about the island’s unofficial rulers – the cats. “They completely rule the island,” Angus grins.

One evening, lying on the floor of the Old Carpet Factory with a cat asleep on his chest and a microphone in front of him, the title track began to reveal itself. “I was closing my eyes picturing what it is when you walk into those fields of energy. Everyone has come to shake something off; whether they’re going through something or they just want to enjoy the night and watch people get up there and be vulnerable and have fun.”

For Angus, karaoke bars aren’t really about singing. “There’s something about those spaces. They’re never fancy. It’s always just a mic and a screen. Sometimes they serve warm beers. But it’s really cool because it’s not about the aesthetic. It’s not about trying to be cool.”

Instead, they’re places where strangers briefly become a community. “It’s all the animals coming together to drink at the same waterhole. It really feels like you’re a part of something, a moment in time, and you won’t experience it again. We’ll forget about it the next morning, but we’ll remember something beautiful happened.”

It’s an unexpectedly poetic description of somewhere so ordinary, yet it perfectly captures the warmth that radiates through the new single. Hydra had another remarkable surprise waiting. While recording upstairs in an old mansion one evening, Angus wandered down to the kitchen for a drink.

“There was a guy sitting there smoking a cigarette. He said, ‘Oh Angus, I heard you guys were here. I came to say hello.'” The stranger looked strangely familiar. “I was thinking he looked so much like Leonard Cohen.” It wasn’t Leonard. It was Adam Cohen.

“We got talking about music and life and I said, ‘You’ve got to come meet Julia.’ We all sat around the kitchen sharing songs.” Angus still sounds slightly amazed recalling it.

“Adam writes these incredible songs and has such a way with words and seeing the world. It was experiences like that. We feel like the music has always led us to meet these wonderful people. I guess the island is this sort of mystical creature in that way.”

That sense of quiet serendipity extends into the way Angus and Julia now make music together. For much of their career, each sibling would write independently before bringing songs to the other. “The alchemy changes over time,” Angus says.

“We used to go off, have our experiences and write songs separately. Then we’d bring them to the table and the other would listen and maybe add something.”

Over the last two records, they’ve abandoned that process. “We’ve been writing the songs from scratch in the same room.” It requires something deeper than simply knowing each other’s musical instincts.

“Being in a partnership for this long, it’s a dance. It’s really important to be aware of when to move forward and when to give space.” That emotional awareness, he believes, now defines their songwriting. “It’s about spatial awareness. We know how each other works.” Even after seven albums, new discoveries still arrive.

When I ask whether any song on Karaoke Bar surprised him during its creation, his answer comes quickly. “Celestial Bodies.” He pauses before explaining why. “When you make a full body of work like an album, each time you unlock a new style that’s been dormant, or that you’ve been searching for.” For Angus, this song opened a door he’d been looking for without realising it.

“It has a lot of spirit and essence that I’ve been searching for for a long time. I’m really excited to play that one live.” Performing has always been central to Angus & Julia Stone, whether playing intimate clubs or festival main stages. Interestingly, he doesn’t really distinguish between the two. “It comes down to how you establish your energy on stage.”

He remembers the siblings busking in their earliest days. “When the crowd got louder, we’d actually get quieter.” It sounds counterintuitive, but it worked. “If people can’t hear because the crowd’s too loud, everyone starts to realise what’s happening. Then the whole room figures it out together.”

That philosophy still guides every performance. “You can create an intimate energy through what you put out. For us it’s about connecting with the audience and telling stories.”

The same flexibility applies to the setlists. “We’ve obviously got our staple songs,” he says. “But then you move around inside that.”

Some nights demand familiar favourites; others make room for new material. “It depends how it feels on the night, what’s going on with you personally and how you’re feeling.”

Rather than following a rigid plan, Angus and Julia prefer to let each performance breathe. “It’s a pretty open way of approaching it.”

As our conversation comes to an end, I mention that my sister has lived in Sydney for several years. At her wedding, Big Jet Plane was chosen as the first dance, making the song something of a family soundtrack. Angus sounds genuinely moved by this. “Oh, that’s so cool.” Then, without hesitation, he adds: “Please give them my love.” It’s a small gesture, but one that somehow encapsulates everything we’ve been talking about over the past hour.

Throughout our conversation, Angus returns time and again to the same idea: that music isn’t simply something we listen to. It becomes the thing that carries us towards people, places and moments we’d never otherwise experience.

Whether it’s writing songs on a tiny Greek island, unexpectedly meeting Leonard Cohen’s son in a kitchen at midnight, or watching strangers unite around a battered karaoke microphone, those moments all seem connected by the same invisible thread. Perhaps Angus is right. Maybe music really is the spirit animal running just ahead of us all, quietly leading the way.

Interview with Angus Stone from Angus & Julia Stone by Nicola Greenbrook and Kalpesh Patel, June 2026.

Rowena Wise: Bad Things Feel Beautiful