Live preview: Angus and Julia Stone, Civic Theatre

The third album of Australian folk-blues singers and siblings Angus and Julia Stone is a global hit.

When Angus Stone answers the phone, he's at home on his farm near Byron Bay. It's a rare moment of being stationary for the musician whose album with his sister Julia has lit up the charts around the world including New Zealand where the pair head this weekend.

"I'm just doing bits and pieces. It's a good place to get away. And it beats being in a touring bus, and going to bed in your little coffin bunk.

"I really like touring because I've got that gypsy blood, but I've also got a yearning for space, and nature and quiet, so going between the two is good, it's a privilege."

They weren't planning on making a third album together - they'd broken up in 2012, and were pursuing solo projects.

"We'd been touring and recording for a long time" Angus says, "and to be honest we were just over it. Burned out. We just felt like it was time, intuitively, to change, and to take a break, and go our own way. So we did that, but we'd only been doing it for a year when we got the call."

That came from legendary American producer Rick Rubin, a man who has produced everyone from Johnny Cash to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and in recent years has increasingly worked with young acoustic pop acts Ed Sheeran and Jake Bugg.

He'd heard their music through a friend and got in touch with Julia. Despite the fact the pair weren't even really talking, Rubin convinced them.

"It was Rick that made us get back together. We'd sort of unspokenly planned that we might get back together maybe when we were in our 40s, and make an acoustic record or something" Angus laughs. "But I think when Rick came along, with his history and knowledge of music, but also who he is as a person, I guess he made us think, maybe there's something we haven't made yet that's still lying round within us, and I guess he sort of enlivened that spirit."

Angus remembers Rubin coming to a show in Los Angeles. "He was like this big blue-eyed Viking watching the show. And afterwards he invited me to his place the next day, and we hung out and just talked, about life and love and songwriting."

The pair flew to LA with songs they'd written individually but they decided to put those tracks aside.

"It felt like something had to change, and we started talking about what that meant, and we found a jam room in town, with all the instruments, and we basically just took a couple of bottles of wine in and started jamming.

"Then on our way home we'd listen to the recordings on the drive, in this little 1959 Morris Minor, and talk about different moments, and I think a lot of the writing that we did together was on those drives home.

"There's something about driving that lets you talk. Something about the forward momentum, and the energy, with the road moving under you, and the attention isn't so direct. It's cool."

The songs still revolve around different aspects of love and Rubin encouraged them to record with musicians like hip-hop drummer Chris "Daddy" Dave and one-time Mars Volta bassist Jason Lader.

"So yeah, Rick's influence in who he recommends and the gang he's got round him definitely played a big part in how this record was shaped."

What: New self-titled album Angus & Julia Stone.
Where and when: Performing at the Civic Theatre in Auckland on Sunday.