The Spartan Daily - San Jose, CA

Debut album a treat for patient listeners

By Zakk Jones

Some singers belt, while others wail. Petracovich, who in her time off goes by her real name, Jessica Peters, would much rather coo, and she thankfully plays to her strengths on her debut album, "Blue Cotton Skin."

Essentially a trip-hop album injected here and there with splashes of Peters' folk music roots, "Skin" floats through its nine tracks as though riding a cloud, with Peters' breathy, childlike voice leading the way.

The leadoff track, "Nighttime," begins with a spacy, Minimoog-ish keyboard intro that might fit just as well in an '80s new wave chart-topper.

Peters' cascading vocal melody sets the pace for the song a moment later, followed by Andrew Giacumakis' strolling and almost jazzy drum work.

With a dreamlike quality that is helped in no small part by Peters' fanciful and fantastical wordplay - "Journey to the moon/On the back of a big firefly/Take me up, up, up" - "Nighttime" more or less characterizes the rest of the album, which would likely go well with some choice reading material (preferably something along the lines of Dr. Seuss or Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are"), or perhaps some kind of over-the-counter-medicine-induced stupor.

Through it all, Peters deftly avoids self-indulgence, maintaining the effectiveness of her vocal style with as few embellishments as possible.

Indeed, her melodies are often as much a part of the background as the tapestry of pianos, atmospheric keyboards, electronic drumbeats and even the occasional distorted electric guitar that accompany her soft, pillowy voice. The album even contains no less than two instrumentals in "Coyote and the Moon" and "Rosebud."

The electronic experimentation gets put on the back burner on tracks such as "Driving Home," whose steady acoustic guitar chord progression harkens back to Peters' coffeehouse beginnings, and "Bird's in Flight," which is the album's most rollicking moment, with its anthemic chorus and bouncy keyboards, held together by Tad Wagner's electric guitar.

"Blue Cotton Skin" is strongest during those moments when it sticks to its guns and doesn't take unnecessary chances. The closest the album comes to a failed experiment is the sometimes turgid and confused "Water House," which isn't a bad song but lacks a certain focus that could have made it work better.
Otherwise, "Blue Cotton Skin" is an album that is not only cohesive but layered, the kind of compact disc that deserves many listens because of the many surprises waiting to be discovered.

Although Peters' voice is the real star here, she knows when to keep it in check and when to let it shine, allowing the compositional skills of her and her bandmates to breathe in and out with plenty of gusto.