WE ALL WANT THE WORLD TO BE BEAUTIFUL.
We want scribes and songbirds to tell us so — and sometimes they do and then it is. They point their pens and focus their lens where they will and surprise us to our soul. ‘On Your Own Love Again’ (Drag City Records 2014) is a record that does it to us, with songs from a spine-thrilling new place and a gifted young singer with her own musical logic. Jessica Pratt’s self-titled 2012 debut has been much-murmured about in the time between yesterday and today. People respond to the austere, pristine clarity of the performances, the gentle strength, marveling at how much comes from so little: just a voice and a guitar or two! They remark on the timeless nature of the songs and the voice, scrupulously informed by the folkrock of ages past, but sung without bags (none in hand, nor beneath eyes). They speculate on just who is the personality behind this Jessica Pratt? It is hard not to respond to the sound of her music, not to want more right away.Two years on, and Jessica’s very new ‘On Your Own Love Again’ is here for us, playing her further adventures in different pastures.

photo by Dola Barioni 2015