Here in the Pitch

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Though she's often lumped into the freak folk category, Jessica Pratt is gauze-wrapped edges and soft curves; there is none of the angularity of, say, Karen Dalton, or the calculated quirk of Devendra Banhart. At times, she has more in common with jazz queen Blossom Dearie's light touch. For her fourth album, Pratt wanted to capture "big panoramic sounds that make you think of the ocean and California''—more specifically, the lost-innocence period post Summer of Love, when the sun and Hollywood stars burned brightly but Los Angeles was gripped by fear and loathing. (Tail-end 1960s cultural touchpoints: Helter Skelter, Kenneth Anger, Eve Babitz, Friends-era Beach Boys.)

The "pitch" of the album's title refers to the darkest of dark. "World on a String" feels like the apex embodiment of her goal, at once twee and pastoral (shades of Joanna Newsom), but pulled by a gloomy psyche: "She's got the world on a string/ 'Bout the time she comes around here anyway/ And it's only lasted for a while/ And it's only luster for the tide." Dreamy "Life Is" finds Pratt's baby-doll delivery slightly obscured, as if transmitted from another time or plane, while her usual stripped-down folk is built up—timpani and all—into a Scott Walker-esque pop ballad. Gently strummed and sun-dappled, with dramatic strings and mourning dove-coo backing vocals, "Better Hate" nods to Burt Bacharach pop. Loungey "Get Your Head Out" plays with swaying Tropicália and bossa nova, as Pratt tries on a voice so much deeper and richer you might wonder if she gave someone else a turn at the mic. "Empires Never Know" is a mournful stunner in the vein of Linda Perhacs' "Parallelograms," with Pratt's voice traveling a mysterious up-and-down path over slightly off piano.

The singer has said she and producer Al Carlson, who she's also worked with in the past, played with microphones around the whole room, creating different atmospherics. "Nowhere It Was" suggests a deep cavern: a spectral echo on Pratt's voice, a low humming drone, something like the sound of condensation dripping off a mossy stalactite. Instrumental "Glances" applies woodwind for a tidal ebb and flow. Here in the Pitch closes with an intriguing what-if: Imagine Mama Michelle Phillips releasing a solo folk song as appealing as "The Last Year." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz