An introduction with rhythm guitar, drums and bass! As if Jessica Pratt turns onto the exit to the U2 and steps on the accelerator. Of course everything is relative, so don’t be alarmed: too Here In The Pitch sounds like the dream of the folk snob who, on a rainy Sunday somewhere abroad, pulls out a record with an appealing cover.
“Add that too,” she says to the owner of the junk shop, and as she listens at home there is first disbelief, then a blank Google screen and then even more disbelief: she has found a lost masterpiece. Here In The Pitch is an album full of melodies that emerge as sudden moments of clarity, as if the churning water stands still for a moment and shows a reflection. Empires Never Know is one of those songs that might be a no-brainer, until there are two sentences that cut through everything and echo endlessly between the ears.
The almost-bossa nova of By Hook Or By Crook seems to come from far away in time like a faded photograph. Pratt sings softly, puts the words in her mouth, yet less nasally than on previous work and floats through the song. Sometimes they suddenly stand out: the endless overdubs, details and other ornaments, which are so well hidden and so averse to loudness that it is almost a shame. We accept that the album closes again after half an hour without fanfare.
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