NEWALBUMS

Jessica Pratt: “There is a tinge of darkness”

It’s been five years since your last record, and it took you three years to make the new one. What does this longer stretch of time give you?

I think honestly it just comes down to the fact I need to stew in things for a while. It’s not necessarily a matter of putting the work in, because we were working pretty steadily in that time. You may write three to five songs in a given timeframe but they might not necessarily have the correct feeling. I wasn’t obsessed with trying to make something cohesive, it’s more that when you know, you know. It’s either right or it’s not. And I think that that process of honing in on things tends to elongate the process.

Where did the idea of ‘pitch’ come from?

With the title, I wasn’t really drawing on the conceptual side of the record, I was trying to be intuitive about it. But it actually came from a poem I wrote that was related to some of the lyrical content on the record. I like when titles feel somewhat vague and ominous. And for me it struck that kind of territory – the idea of elemental shifting and this very ancient substance that comes from the earth.

How did the augmented band change the sound of these songs?

It was the same crew as the previous record when it came to co-producing and engineering the record – Al Carlson, and Matt McDermott, who is my husband, but also my collaborator. But we were fortunate enough to be put in touch with some very skilled musicians – the rhythm section, Mauro Refosco, a Brazilian percussionist, and the bassist Spencer Zahn. It really helped solidify things, and then Al and Matt and I were really careful in how we approached even the smallest sounds on the record. Even the way that the percussion was directed and treated, we were just trying to hone a very specific atmospheric sound. We wanted to retain the intimacy of the previous record, and I guess my whole body of work, we didn’t want it to be a really jarring jump to a whole other sonic territory that felt unnatural.

In search of an “ancient substance”: Jessica Pratt

“Brian Wilson’s production style is always a North Star for me”

We were just trying to incorporate new sounds in a way that felt commensurate with the sort of sound that I’ve been working toward over the last 10 years.

“Life Is” immediately strikes a different tone.

It was an interesting one. Usually when I write something that sticks I know for a fact that it’ll stick. But this one, the mood of the song felt a little malleable – like, the style that the song would be performed in. It took a second to gel. And actually it was a bit of a thorn in our side, but I kept coming back and reworking it, and eventually in the studio we were able to spend some time and concentrate it.

JORDIVIDAL/REDFERNS

What was it that led you back to Pet Sounds as an inspiration?

Pet Sounds, and Brian Wilson’s production style, I guess that’s always a North Star for me. It’s a cliché about using the studio as an instrument, but that’s truly what he did. So to even take the smallest crumb of inspiration from that and have it reflected in the work was the goal. When I was young I thought it was so exciting just to hear the sound of the studio, like the room was alive. So we tried to tap into some of that. It’s like the space around the sounds that you’re hearing. Even just listening to the sound of silence in a room can be beautiful.

Does the quiet of your live audiences find its way back into your music?

I feel like I think of the two as pretty separate, but the kind of music I play is dependent on having open space for it to breathe, and so yes, I think there’s a correlation between the studio silence and the hushed audience silence. But I think when I’m playing live I’m less aware of what’s going on around me.

Los Angeles seems to be all over the record – what’s your relationship like with the city?

Well, it’s a strange time in general and I think that is influencing everywhere around us, regardless of where you are. But I feel like Los Angeles is home – I just hit the 10- year mark, and I feel like a decade in a place is pretty significant. I’ve become very interested in the history of this city and I feel more connected to it through that. I think a lot of people move here and leave within a couple of years. It isn’t a city that necessarily envelops you when you arrive. It doesn’t push you out either, but it’s just sort of indifferent to your suffering, maybe. I guess there’s kind of a desolate feeling if you aren’t connected to the right people or don’t have anything established. And I guess I’ve been here long enough that that has changed a lot. But it’s a place where there is a tinge of darkness. I don’t know whether you can have any kind of culturally significant city that doesn’t have that shadow layer.

INTERVIEW: LAURA BARTON