Album Review: Jessica Pratt – On Your Own Love Again
2 min read
The career beginnings of US folk singer/songwriter Jessica Pratt makes for an interesting story, for years she had demo tapes shelved in her home with no intention of releasing them as an LP; it wasn’t until Tim Presley, the guitarist of Darker My Love, discovered her music via her boyfriend on Facebook and urged her to release the tracks. Her debut self-titled effort came to be in 2012, and its first 500 pressed copies sold out in less than two weeks, an admirable feat for somebody starting out as a commercial singer; Jessica is now releasing her sophomore album, On Your Own Love Again; will this new release retain the personality and lush qualities that fans fell in love with two years ago?
There is certainly something intriguing about the way Pratt writes, first track Wrong Hand has an unusual tonal characteristic to it, it’s in a world of its own with its enticing finger picking melody and Jessica’s sweet voice; initially, Game That I Play adopts a more deeper acoustic sound, but it develops into another light hearted arrangement. Strange Melody has a nice but repetitive guitar melody, nothing so strange about its melody, but still makes for a decent tune; unfortunately Greycedes doesn’t manage to capture the sound we were digging so far, Jessica’s voice is a little too nasal to enjoy. Moon Dude has an uplifting chord progression, but nothing different could be heard from the vocals.
Jacquelyn In The Background doesn’t demonstrate anything too different from what’s already been heard, other than a slightly different choice of chords; the harmonies are commendable throughout I’ve Got A Feeling, which lifts the tired vibe the album had been transitioning into. Lead single Back, Baby is the catchiest track on the album, which is an easy feat, but a feat nonetheless; title-track On Your Own Love Again serves as a short and sweet outro, now this track could have been a tad longer as it’s a stand out.
Without a doubt there is something unique about the sound Jessica Pratt has crafted, On Your Own Love Again doesn’t show any coyness towards fitting right in to her existing vibe; however, as beautiful as some of the moments were, history was repeating itself as the vocals didn’t really show a lot of versatility from track to track. The album is short consisting of a mere nine tracks, perhaps four or five of the tracks could have been shelved so the release could serve as an EP, not every track was a stunner which takes away from those that were. On Your Own Love Again isn’t the greatest album ever heard, nor is it the worst, but there will be times as you are listening to it where you’ll enjoy for one moment and forget the next.
