Julia Stone is no stranger to the stage. Initially known for being one half of the sibling duo with her younger brother Angus, it’s now been ten years since her first solo album, The Memory Machine, was released. Like most musicians, the last year has been one of the longest periods Stone has gone without playing a live show. Having played a few shows in Victoria earlier in the month, her Sydney drought was broken on Thursday and Friday night. Stone and her band played a series of intimate seated shows at Marrickville’s Factory Theatre in anticipation of the April release of her third album Sixty Summers.

Singer-songwriter Jack Gray was on support for the four shows, entrancing the crowd with his blend of acoustic and electronic pop. One of the small pleasures of seated shows has been that more people are arriving in time to see the support acts, and for those of us who made it in time to see Gray it was clear that we were witnessing something special. His use of loop pedals and his ability to play guitar and keyboard at the same time indicated a talent well beyond his years. It also doesn’t hurt that Gray gave off a genuinely nice vibe in his crowd banter. ‘I’ve Got 3’, ‘Winter City’ and his latest release ‘Selfish’ were highlights of the set.

After a brief intermission Julia Stone took the stage, accompanied by her five-piece band. They launched straight into her cover of The National’s ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’, which featured on her second album. It was a bit of a full circle moment, as Stone’s latest single features The National’s frontman Matt Berninger. It also set the tone for the night - this is a much darker Julia Stone than we’ve seen in years past. Throughout the evening we heard a number of tracks from Sixty Summers, and the thread that ran through them all was their much grittier sound than songs on The Memory Machine. There was also a much greater use of electronic instruments, signifying a new era for Stone. While the piano lines and acoustic guitars are still present, her new material included vocoders, talkboxes and, at points, a heavy bassline.

That said, however, there was still a good measure of the things that made Stone so popular in her set. ‘Nothing Else’ saw her pick up a trumpet, while ‘And The Boys’ received a stripped back reinterpretation that kept the audience on their toes. The highlight of the set was ‘By The Horns’, as Stone told us about the unfaithful “boy” that inspired the track. Her introductory spiel received murmurs and then laughter, as she debated whether to call him a man or a boy, as he was in his twenties. She also disclosed that she played it once with the other woman, “but it wasn’t as awkward as you think!”. The track itself was Stone in full flight - it’s a damning revenge song, and she knows it.

Friday night was the fourth and final show of this run of intimate shows, and should be considered a triumph for Stone. While the new material feels a world away from what she started out with, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.