Jessica Pratt - Here In the Pitch (2024) (Hi-Res)

Though she's often lumped into the freak folk category, Jessica Pratt is gauze-wrapped edges and soft curves; there is none of the angularity of, say, Karen Dalton, or the calculated quirk of Devendra Banhart. At times, she has more in common with jazz queen Blossom Dearie's light touch. For her fourth album, Pratt wanted to capture "big panoramic sounds that make you think of the ocean and California''—more specifically, the lost-innocence period post Summer of Love, when the sun and Hollywood stars burned brightly but Los Angeles was gripped by fear and loathing. (Tail-end 1960s cultural touchpoints: Helter Skelter, Kenneth Anger, Eve Babitz, Friends-era Beach Boys.)