Sydney brother-sister folk-blues acoustic pop-tinged duo Angus and Julia Stone scored their breakthrough hit with "Big Jet Plane", a single that was included on their second collaborative studio album Down the Way (2010). "Big Jet Plane" won the Single of the Year award at the 2010 Australian Recording Industry Assoication (ARIA) Music Awards of 2010, was voted number 1 on the Triple J Hottest 100 2010 singles.
Angus Stone has attributed the song's widespread appeal to its simplicity and honesty: "You know, it's pretty cruisy, quite simple [..] We write songs, we play shows, and people like it. I don't really know why. But for me, when I hear honest writing I'm always drawn in. And I want to always try and be honest, in the way that I view things. I'm really excited when I'm sitting down and I'm in that world, there's nothing else quite like it. So maybe, listening to us, people can feel that" (ABC.Net.au, 2010).
The song's lyrics and acoustic instrumentals are simple and manage to be poignant in a self-effacing, understated way. The Guardian's Kitty Empire described it as being 'quietly insidious', noting that it "allied some brightly optimistic lyrics ("I'm gonna take you on a ride on a big jet plane!") to a tune beaten into woebegone submission". It's that delicate balance between a weak and persistent optimism and an implied bleakness - balanced on the precarious possibility of an escapist romantic gesture - that makes the track memorable. The accompanying music video foregrounds the soul-sucking bleakness that one escapes via a 'ride on a big jet plane' with a portrait of a sad young woman who works in a lonely and alienating all-purpose store.
"Grizzly Bear", a track from the duo's 2015 self-titled album, recreates the same thrill of a wistful, escapist romance on a lyrical level:
'Can I take you home?Can I take you home?We can go anywhere you wanna goCan I take you highTo the mountain sky?We can go as far as you wanna goPa pa pa pa pa paPa pa pa pa pa pa'
But the beat is more up-tempo and optimistic this time (it was recorded in California), making that possibility more plausible than wistful. The quietness, remains, however - Angus' chilled, languid, soft-sung vocals sound far more like an invitation to a walk on the beach, park or mountain trail than to a wild night out on the town. And that invitation still seems to imply a meaning that surpasses its apparent simplicity. There's a rare kind of earnestness on display here, presented with a hint of vulnerability that creates an effortlessly poignant, lingering effect on the listener.
