Jessica Pratt – ‘Here In The Pitch’ album review: Richer and more refined
THE SKINNY: Five years without a new Jessica Pratt album is far too long. For half a decade, we’ve been left longing for another dose of her lush instrumentation and lo-fi production, her soft strums and strange vocalisations, for more music made for red wine drinking and red room dancing. Fortunately, Here In The Pitch is well worth the wait, and well worthy of your finest bottle of Malbec.
Since settling into the music industry with analogue tape and four-track recordings, Pratt has only ventured into the world of studio production once before with 2019’s Quiet Signs. She returned to the same studio – Gary’s Electric Studio in Brooklyn – to record Here In The Pitch, which is a seamless melding of her lo-fi beginnings and growing comfort around the mixing desk.
The warm hum of her songwriting is never lost to more polished production. Instead, it’s enhanced and elevated by a new range of instruments. Sparsity, bending keys and strange purrs give Here In The Pitch its eerier tone, while moments of playful percussion, bossa nova stylings and Pratt’s increasingly recognisable tender strums serve to lighten the record. Her instrumentation somehow feels both denser and more distant than ever.
As always, Pratt’s vocals cut through it all. They’re more reminiscent of 1960s California than ever before, sitting somewhere between hypnotic and haunting. The content of her words has weight, tackling ambition and enemies, as well as dread and desolation, but it’s almost hidden under the guise of her peculiarly potent voice. Even when the instrumentation is barely there, she ensures that her performance takes up all available space.
Every element and every song on Here In The Pitch is gorgeously constructed, but it’s an album that should be enjoyed as such. One that should be purchased on wax, afforded the attention of a precise needle drop and a hushed conversation with a friend over a bottle of something as rich as her sound.
For fans of: Twin Peaks, Malbec and 1960s California.
A concluding comment from The Beach Boys: “God only knows what Here in The Pitch would be without us.”
Here In The Pitch track by track:
Release date: 3rd May | Producer: Al Carlson and Jessica Pratt | Label: City Slang
‘Life Is’: Listening to ‘Life Is’ feels like stepping through the red curtains of David Lynch’s red room, into a place both strange and wonderful, where the floors zig-zag and there’s always music in the air. [4.5/5]
‘Better Hate’: Distant clicks and nonchalant “la-la”s continue the airy, dream-like feel of Here In The Pitch on ‘Better Hate’. The influence of the Wilson brothers is evident, but Pratt replaces their sonic swells with sparsity and sensuality as she sings of enemies and infamy. [4.5/5]
‘World On a String’: With lyrics as mysterious and magical as her soundscapes, Pratt has the world on a string by track three. “I want to be the sunlight of the century,” she sings over ever-gentle guitars. With Here In The Pitch, she may well have fulfilled her wish. [4/5]
‘Get Your Head Out’: ‘Get Your Head Out’ is a reminder of just how much of Pratt’s intrigue is carried by her voice. It’s afforded little accompaniment on track for – a consistent strum and an occasional distant twang or thump – but it’s no less enchanting than her denser works. [4/5]
‘By Hook or By Crook’: The subdued soundtrack to a dimly lit bar, a French martini and a tentative flirt. Between soft shakers and her sultry delivery, you might not even notice Pratt dishing out home truths from the opening line: “Some people chip away time more than they understand…” [4.5/5]
‘Nowhere It Was’: Again, Pratt affords her words little backing on ‘Nowhere It Was’, but there’s real intention in the sparse instrumentation. An eerie hum veers in and out of focus, while percussion emulates the sound of raindrops. It almost feels like tip-toeing through a church at midnight. [4/5]
‘Empires Never Know’: Poor Things-esque bends and soaring strings match the weight of Pratt’s song title on ‘Empires Never Know’. Her vocals sound more polished than ever before, round and full, but they never lose their intimacy. [4.5/5]
‘Glances’: ‘Glances’ is as ephemeral as its title. Tender, repeated plucks and growing strings take up a minute-and-a-half of space, devoid of Pratt’s musings for the first time. [4/5]
‘The Last Year’: One for the road. “I think it’s gonna be fine,” Pratt promises in her cathartic final offering, “… it’s gonna be you and me.” As the rich piano chords and subdued strums of ‘The Last Year’ fade away, we can only hope that it’s less than half a decade until we meet again. [4.5/5]
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