Jessica Pratt Album Review & Kevin Morby Interview

What a week in Eugene for Kevin Morby and Jessica Pratt! On Monday night, they put on an intimate, stunning show at The Barnlight. Pratt’s latest album, On Your Own Love Again, hit the top of our KWVA Top 30 Chart this week at #1, and our very own DJ Stegosaurus landed an interview with Morby. Check out KWVA DJ Nathan Steven’s review of On Your Own Love Again and the Morby interview below.

d1fa694a

Jessica Pratt – On Your Own Love Again

In the time of Bandcamp and Youtube, folk singers are a dime a dozen, so it’s rare to find a singular voice that’s engaging and unique in a sea of Fleet Foxes/Mumford and Son devotees. That fact only increases the excellence of Jessica Pratt’s sophomore album On Your Own Love Again, a pastoral effort that brings to mind an alternate universe where Love and Joni Mitchell teamed up for a lovely and melancholy record.

On the first run through or so, On Your Own Love Again comes across as warm and inviting. Pratt’s mousey voice is pushed to the front, and only guitar work, harmonies and the very occasional brush of percussion accompany her. “Game That I Play” and album highlight “Greycedes” crackle with warmth that conjures up images of 60s California folk, full of good times, druggy hazes and summer days. But look just below the surface and you’ll find something more sobering. Lead single “Baby Back” is the perfect example. It’s a golden song full of “la la las” and a happily chugging guitar, but Pratt delivers (outside of the devastation on Bjork’s new album) the saddest line of 2015 in the midst of it all: “Your love is just a myth I devised.”

Pratt also refuses to make straightforward songs. The Chelsea Wolfe-like darkness on “Strange Melody” briefly lifts into sunshine in the chorus, only to dive back into darkness when Pratt’s spiraling guitar takes over. The sleepy “Jacquelyn in the Background” becomes detuned toward the end and, the first time I heard it, I was convinced something was wrong with my record player, even though I was listening to it on my iPod.

Above all, On Your Own Love Again is simply a gorgeous album. The one-two combination of “Greycedes” and “Moon Dude” that marks the record’s half-way point absolutely melted me with the sort of transcendent folk that was have supposed to have died with Nick Drake. Often it’s enough just for an album to be beautiful, but On Your Own Love Again has depth, so take a breath and dive in.

-Nathan Stevens
Nate’s Doing The Thing, Fridays 1-2 pm Winter 2015


DJ Stegosaurus‘ interview with Kevin Morby:

Catch DJ Stegosaurus on-air with The Prehistoric Power Hour, Fridays from 4-6pm Winter 2015.