Few sibling duos in modern folk-pop capture the bittersweet ache of everyday life quite like Angus & Julia Stone songs do, and after years of obsessive listening, I’ve narrowed their catalog down to the twenty tracks that define them. From the whisper-close harmonies of their Sydney bedroom recordings to the Rick Rubin-polished sheen of their later work, this Australian brother-and-sister act has spent two decades proving that vulnerability, when arranged with the right amount of restraint, can hit harder than any anthem. Grab your headphones, settle in, and let’s walk through the songs that turned two kids from Newport into one of the most quietly influential folk acts of their generation.
Big Jet Plane
There’s a reason “Big Jet Plane” became the song people associate with Angus & Julia Stone above all others. Originally written and recorded by Angus alone under the alias Lady of the Sunshine, the duo re-recorded it for 2010’s Down the Way, co-produced with Govinda Doyle, and it became a genuine cultural moment, taking out the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2010 and winning the ARIA Award for Single of the Year. What makes it work is restraint: a simple fingerpicked guitar figure, minimal percussion, and vocal harmonies that feel more like a conversation than a performance. On headphones, you catch every breath and string squeak, which is exactly the kind of intimate mix that rewards close listening rather than background play.
Chateau
The title track from 2017’s Snow, “Chateau” is arguably the most sonically adventurous entry on this list, built around a warm, almost hypnotic guitar loop and a vocal blend that feels looser and more improvisational than their earlier work. Self-produced at Angus’s Byron Bay cottage studio, the track climbed to number three on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2017, proof that a decade into their career they could still write something that felt fresh rather than nostalgic. Lyrically it drifts and daydreams rather than tells a straight story, which suits the song’s slow-build arrangement perfectly. I’d argue it’s the best entry point for anyone discovering the duo through their more recent catalog rather than the early acoustic material.
Paper Aeroplane
Long before “Big Jet Plane” made international headlines, “Paper Aeroplane” was quietly building the duo’s reputation as songwriters worth watching. First released on the 2006 EP Chocolates and Cigarettes and later folded into A Book Like This, it landed at number 43 on the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2006 and was even sampled by Giorgio Armani for a winter runway show, an early sign of how far their sound could travel. The arrangement is sparse almost to a fault, just acoustic guitar and Julia’s fragile lead vocal, which is precisely why it holds up. If you want to understand the raw, unproduced version of this band before the studio polish arrived, this is where you start.
Santa Monica Dream
“Santa Monica Dream” is a quiet heartbreaker, a track five cut on Down the Way that trades the album’s occasional pop flourishes for something more spacious and melancholic. The lyrics trace a relationship dissolving from a distance, with Julia and Angus trading verses that feel like two sides of the same unresolved conversation, and the harmonized chorus lands with real emotional weight. It later found a second life soundtracking pivotal scenes in the video game Life Is Strange, introducing an entirely new generation to the duo’s catalog. This is a song that genuinely benefits from a quality pair of over-ear headphones, since the way the vocal layers separate in the mix is easy to miss on tinny laptop speakers.
Draw Your Swords
Tucked into the back half of Down the Way, “Draw Your Swords” doesn’t get talked about as often as the album’s singles, but it deserves more attention for its unusual structure and slow-burn tension. Self-produced by the siblings, the arrangement leans on a repetitive guitar figure and building vocal harmonies that never quite resolve into a traditional chorus, which gives the whole thing a hypnotic, almost meditative quality. It was even used by Australian fashion label Witchery for a seasonal campaign, a small but telling sign of how the duo’s music has always had a cinematic, mood-setting quality beyond the lyrics themselves. In contrast to the more radio-friendly cuts on the record, this one rewards patience.
Yellow Brick Road
From their 2007 debut A Book Like This, “Yellow Brick Road” showcases the duo at their most unpolished and, frankly, most charming. Produced partly by Travis frontman Fran Healy, who mentored the siblings early in their career, the song leans on Angus’s rough, conversational vocal delivery paired against Julia’s softer harmonies for a genuinely lived-in sound. There’s a looseness to the guitar playing here that later, more produced albums would sand away, and that rawness is exactly what longtime fans keep coming back to. It’s the sound of two teenagers figuring out who they were as songwriters in real time, and that honesty still reads clearly nearly two decades later.
Just a Boy
Released as the second single from A Book Like This in March 2008, “Just a Boy” is one of the clearest examples of Angus taking the lead vocal spotlight early in the duo’s career. The songwriting is direct and unguarded, built around a simple chord progression that leaves plenty of room for his slightly cracked, half-spoken delivery to carry the emotional weight. Julia later reworked the song from her own perspective as “Lonely Hands” for the Hollywood single, which says a lot about how flexible their songwriting always was, capable of being reshaped and reinterpreted without losing its core feeling. On a good pair of earbuds during a commute, this one still feels like a private confession you happened to overhear.
Hollywood
The fourth and final single pulled from A Book Like This, “Hollywood” leans into a slightly more theatrical, storytelling mode than most of the duo’s catalog, with lyrics that read almost like a short film script. Angus and Julia trade lines with a kind of world-weary humor that would become a signature of their writing, poking at fame and disillusionment without ever tipping into cynicism. The song’s structure, verse-heavy with minimal repetition, shows just how confident they were as songwriters even on their debut record. It’s a deep cut that rewards fans willing to sit with the lyrics rather than just the melody.
Black Crow
As the lead-off single from Down the Way, “Black Crow” announced a bigger, more ambitious version of the duo, one willing to bring in fuller arrangements and a more deliberate rhythm section than their debut ever attempted. The imagery is stark and a little gothic, all crows and shadows, which pairs nicely against the warmth of the vocal harmonies to create real tension in the mix. Meanwhile, the production gives Julia’s voice more room to breathe than on earlier tracks, letting her handle some of the record’s most emotionally direct lines. It’s a song that signaled the duo were ready to think beyond bedroom-folk arrangements and toward something closer to a full band sound.
Hold On
Co-produced with Keiran Kelly, “Hold On” is one of the more rhythmically driven tracks on Down the Way, trading some of the duo’s usual hush for a steadier, almost anthemic pulse. The lyrics function as a plainspoken pep talk, direct in a way that feels earned rather than saccharine, and the arrangement builds patiently toward a satisfying instrumental swell in the back half. On the other hand, it never loses the intimacy that defines the rest of the album, keeping the vocal mix close and unfussy even as the instrumentation fills out. If you’re building a playlist and need something to bridge their quieter material with their more upbeat tracks, this is the connector.
Heart Beats Slow
The lead single from their Rick Rubin-produced 2014 self-titled album, “Heart Beats Slow” marked a genuine sonic reset for the duo, recorded at the legendary Shangri-La studio in Malibu. Rubin’s influence is audible immediately in the mix, which is warmer and more spacious than anything the siblings had released before, giving the acoustic instrumentation room to actually breathe. The song peaked at number 37 in Australia and reintroduced the pair to audiences after a four-year gap spent on solo projects. There’s a newfound confidence in the vocal performances here, a sense that both Angus and Julia had grown considerably as singers during their time apart.
Grizzly Bear
Also pulled from the 2014 self-titled record, “Grizzly Bear” leans into a moodier, more atmospheric palette than the album’s lead single, with Julia’s vocal taking center stage over a slow-building arrangement. The metaphor at the song’s core, love as something wild and slightly dangerous, gives the lyrics a bit more bite than the duo’s earlier, gentler material. Jessie Hill directed the accompanying music video, part of a striking visual campaign that accompanied every single from the album and helped reintroduce the duo as visual storytellers as much as musicians. In contrast to their debut-era work, the production here feels genuinely cinematic, all reverb-soaked guitars and patient dynamics.
A Heartbreak
“A Heartbreak” is arguably the emotional centerpiece of the 2014 self-titled album, a track that pairs a deceptively upbeat rhythm with lyrics dealing head-on with loss and reconciliation. That contrast between the buoyant instrumentation and the weightier subject matter is a trick the duo has used throughout their catalog, but rarely as effectively as here, and it’s easy to see why Rubin pushed for it as a single. The vocal interplay between Angus and Julia throughout the bridge is some of the most technically impressive harmony work in their entire discography. Live, this one tends to hit even harder, with audiences visibly moved by the moment the full band arrangement kicks in.
Get Home
Closing out the run of singles from the self-titled 2014 record, “Get Home” strips things back slightly compared to its bigger, more polished siblings on the tracklist, favoring a warmer, folkier arrangement that echoes some of the duo’s earliest work. Lyrically it’s about longing and return, themes that recur constantly across their catalog, but the vocal performances here feel especially lived-in, a byproduct of the months the pair spent recording together in California after years apart. Jessie Hill again directed the video, tying the entire album era together visually as well as sonically. It’s a quieter deep cut, but one that longtime listeners often cite as a personal favorite once they dig past the singles.
Snow
The title track and lead single from the duo’s fourth studio album, “Snow” marked their return after a three-year gap and a shift toward self-production, recorded entirely at Angus’s own cottage studio in the Byron Bay hinterland. The arrangement leans on a gently driven organ and a scratchier, more textured guitar tone than their earlier records, giving the whole thing an almost wintry, unhurried atmosphere that matches the title. It earned an ARIA Platinum certification and cracked the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2017, proof that fans hadn’t gone anywhere during their time away. This is one of those tracks that genuinely changes character depending on your listening environment, moody and enveloping through headphones, but still perfectly pleasant as a car playlist staple.
Nothing Else
A deeper cut from Snow, “Nothing Else” leans into the album’s more experimental instincts, incorporating a drum machine and a broader guitar palette that the duo hadn’t really explored on previous records. The songwriting is stripped down and direct, almost conversational, which lets the unusual production choices do more of the emotional heavy lifting than the lyrics alone. Fans and critics alike have singled it out as one of the album’s standout deep cuts, a track that rewards repeat listens more than most of the record’s flashier singles. It’s proof that even a decade and a half into their career, the Stone siblings were still willing to experiment with texture rather than coast on their established sound.
For You
Released as the fourth and final single from Down the Way in April 2011, “For You” closes out the album’s singles run on a gentler, more reflective note than its predecessors. The production keeps things intimate, prioritizing the vocal blend over any big instrumental flourishes, which makes it feel more like a direct address to the listener than a radio single built for mass appeal. It’s a song that tends to get overshadowed by “Big Jet Plane” and “Black Crow,” but it holds its own as one of the album’s most emotionally direct moments. For fans who discovered the duo through their bigger hits, this is one of those songs worth circling back to.
Chocolates & Cigarettes
The title track of the duo’s very first EP, released back in 2006, “Chocolates & Cigarettes” is where the Angus & Julia Stone sound essentially began. Recorded with a small band including members of the Beautiful Girls on drums and bass, plus a guest cello part, the track set the template for everything that followed: close harmonies, plainspoken lyrics, and an arrangement that never overstates its case. Julia has said the EP’s title itself came from a conversation about the two things she was trying, and failing, to give up at the time, which tells you everything about the disarming honesty that’s defined their songwriting since. It’s a genuinely essential listen for anyone wanting to hear where this whole story started.
Babylon
Also from the 2006 Chocolates and Cigarettes EP, “Babylon” found an unexpected second life after being featured on the American television drama Army Wives, introducing the duo to international audiences years before “Big Jet Plane” made them a household name in that market. The arrangement is patient and unhurried, running past the five-minute mark without ever feeling padded, which speaks to how confident the siblings were as arrangers even at the very start of their career. Julia’s vocal here carries a weariness beyond her years, a quality that would become one of her defining traits as a performer. It remains a fan favorite precisely because it never chased a conventional radio structure.
Wasted
Closing out this list is “Wasted,” the second single from 2007’s A Book Like This and one of two tracks from the record that landed on the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2007. It’s a moodier, more downbeat entry in the duo’s early catalog, with Angus’s vocal carrying most of the emotional weight over a sparse, largely acoustic arrangement. There’s a rawness to the mix, unsurprising given how much of the album was recorded in their mother’s lounge room back in Newport, that gives the track a documentary-like honesty missing from more studio-polished later work. If you’re curating a broader dive into their catalog, browsing our full songs category is a great next stop for tracing how their sound evolved from here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Angus & Julia Stone’s most popular song?
“Big Jet Plane” remains their most widely recognized track, having topped the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2010 and won the ARIA Award for Single of the Year, and it continues to be their most streamed song internationally.
Are Angus and Julia Stone actually siblings?
Yes, Angus Stone and Julia Stone are brother and sister from Newport, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, and they’ve released music together as a duo since forming in the mid-2000s alongside pursuing occasional solo careers.
What genre is Angus & Julia Stone’s music?
Their sound is generally classified as indie folk and folk-pop, though later albums like Snow and their Rick Rubin-produced self-titled record incorporate more textured, alternative-leaning production choices. If you’re serious about hearing the subtle differences between their eras, it’s worth comparing gear using our headphones comparison guide before committing to a pair built for detailed acoustic mixes.
Which album should a new listener start with?
Down the Way (2010) is the most accessible entry point thanks to its blend of radio-friendly singles and quieter album cuts, though listeners drawn to a moodier, more atmospheric sound might prefer starting with Snow (2017) instead.
Did Rick Rubin really produce an Angus & Julia Stone album?
Yes, Rick Rubin co-produced their self-titled third studio album, recorded at his Shangri-La studio in Malibu in 2013 and 2014, and he’s credited with helping reunite the siblings after several years spent focused on solo projects.
What’s the best way to listen to their music on the go?
Because so much of their catalog relies on close vocal harmonies and subtle acoustic detail, a solid pair of earbuds makes a real difference for commuting or travel listening; our earbuds comparison can help you find a pair that won’t flatten out those quieter mixes.