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PETRACOVICH
http://www.petracovich.com
[BIOGRAPHY]
[PHOTOS]
[PRESS]
[TOUR DATES]
[AUDIO]
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BIOGRAPHY
Petracovich's third album, Crepusculo, out summer 2009, finds the folk-pop songstress, (Jessica Peters), emerging from her electro sheen to embrace an organic sound more spontaneous, direct, and open than any of her previous releases. And while this represents a significant stylistic shift, her artful approach is still firmly intact through a fascination with sonic textures and poetic but unadorned lyrics. The result is an artfully crafted, happy collection of songs anchored by an emotional depth and honesty that is nothing less than grand.
The immediacy of the album's sound was born from a month of recording and mixing at Type Foundry in Portland, OR with John Askew, (the Dodos, Glenn Philips), at the helm. The Foundry's antiquated architecture, analog equipment and large sound rooms proved the perfect match for Peter's tactile sound-scapes. Creaking parlor pianos, wooden floors shifting with the kick drum and the whir of the harmonium bellows all become atmospheric backdrop to the piano centered arrangements. In this space, Peter's poignant and tender vocals find their home and her delivery is all the more devastating in its reserve as she offers up vignettes about a wayward father, sundown on a traffic-filled freeway, hotels overgrown with wildflowers, arrests at gun point and a love affair with her own heart.
Musically Peters synthesizes a long list of influences - from Rick Ruben's work with Johnny Cash, the songwriting of Leonard Cohen, Damien Jurado and Aimee Mann, and the instrumentation of Sufjan Stevens, Ray Charles and Sparklehorse, to the poetry of Mary Oliver, Sylvia Plath, and the Buddhist monk Thic Nhat Hahn, to the natural world she finds in her own back yard and in the state parks near her home. She is a collector of stories, images, metaphor and emotion. And Crepusculo gives use the most intimate tour of her collection to date.
Crepusculo (twilight in Spanish, pronounced Cray-poo-sku-low), is that moment between the ending of day and beginning of night when everything shifts. And for Peters this album has become just that - a marker of musical and life transitions. Recorded in 2008 while pregnant with her first child, Otto Charles, the record became imbued with his presence. And when he was born and died eight days later, everything stopped. The album was put on the shelf and loving and grieving his life became the center. Now with its release a year later, Peters steps back into the world with a bigger and wiser heart, arms open and singing.
Based out of San Francisco, Petracovich is Jessica Peters Malmberg with an old-world version of her family name. Her great-grandfather came to the US from Russia at the turn of the century, and one of the only things Peters knows of Abraham Petracovich is that he loved to listen to the New York Opera from the radio in the living room. Out of respect for the music, he would always wear his best suit, cufflinks included.
Many years later, his 9 year old great-granddaughter would be at the piano, practicing Chopin and Debussy, which evolved into long, blissful hours on a living-room floor, creating sounds and beats, twisting knobs, tinkering and writing.
Drummer Max Diez (Audio Outsend) joined the band in 2006 after sharing a bill at a San Francisco show, and adds depth and drive to live shows and recordings.
Petracovich's debut album, "blue cotton skin", was released in 2004. Its trip-hop lullabies were played on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, as well as 200 other college stations. Songs from the album recieved placements in the movie the Fog and FX's TV show Over There. Peters and her husband packed up the van and toured the country, Peters solo with keyboards, laptop and microphone.
Sophomore album We Are Wyoming was released fall of 2005, This album maintained the dreamy, head-in-the-clouds atmosphere of bcs, while discovering lovely roots in a slow alt. country/rock swing. Peters and her husband toured 45 cities nationally to promote this release and garnered great reviews, including a spot on the Boston Globe's top 10 list of 2005. Critics said, "a perfect balance between rhythmic beats, atmospherics backdrops, striking images and angelic vocals." (Paste Magazine - 4 to Watch for Feb 2006).
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PHOTOS
Click on a thumbnail to download that hi-res JPEG (suitable for publication):
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TOUR DATES
coming soon!
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PRESS
Oregon Live.com
Review: Petracovich crafts dreamlike, almost sinister sounds at Berbatie's in Portland
by Scott. D. Lewis
Need another good reason to support the smoking ban? Sometimes, expectant mothers have to play those bars to make a living with their art. Such was the case Thursday night when Petracovich , the working moniker of Jessica Peters, a gifted San Francisco singer-songwriter, played Berbati's Pan . Preferring her keyboard and the occasional banjo over the guitar more common to her folk-pop genre, Peters (who took her old family name for her musical output) crafts airy, almost dreamlike songs that gently pull the listener in before they discover that within her pretty musical worlds live slightly sinister souls and many of the things that go on aren't quite right. Such beautiful, beguiling and bewitched songs fill her third release, "Crepusculo," ("twilight" in Spanish) which she recorded in Portland with John Askew. However, with only a drummer (who occasionally overpowered her despite using mallets) and an occasional bass player behind her, Peters struggled somewhat to match the magical impact she achieves on record. As Peters stepped on stage (an hour and a half after the scheduled start time), it was clear that her glow was not just from the heat and the happiness of performing: It likely had to do with her being six months pregnant.
Peters was pregnant during the recording of "Crepusculo," but lost her first child after just eight days, a tragedy that seems almost foreshadowed by the album's content. This was evident in the opening song of the set, "We Must Have Been Birds," a drifting and aching slice of indie folk-pop that tells, in Peter's simultaneously weary and resolute voice, of love and lives lived together cut short by death. When the sound from another band in the adjoining room (the show was part of the three-day Firstfest) began to noticeably bleed in during the nearly playful sounding yet narratively bleak "Heaven Help the Day" Peters took the distraction in stride, quipping, "For the price of only $5 you can hear two bands at once." Looking to Petracovich's back catalog, "Others" appeared, with its spooky intro, mid-tempo yet lazy body, and Peter's singing like a young girl woken from a dangerous dream. Reaching back to her debut, "Blue Cotton Skin," Peters delivered one of the highlights of the nine-song set, "Birds in Flight." Slightly menacing and mysterious, the mellow pop tune with enchanting piano refrains easily set up shop in one's mind. In the possible world of late-night-journal-entry-indie-folk-pop, it couldn't likely get better than Petracovich.
Adequacy.net
Petracovich, "Crepusculo"
by Jose Vela
September 22, 2009
The latest album from Petracovich, Crepusculo, has a certain sense of transition and tragedy imbued. Lead singer Jessica Peters-Malmberg recorded the album during her pregnancy. After her son was born and passed away shortly after the album was shelved and brought back to life a year later, along with Jessica's enduring passion to sing and play the music she loved. The title literally means "twilight" in Spanish, which means the time when the change from day to night happens. Sure there are changes in moods between some songs, but the album is about more than that. It's hard not to feel the changes going on in Malmberg's life that informed the album and the powerful folk-pop epic that emerges from the love and care that she put into this project.
The album starts on a whimsical note with "Heaven Help The Day", a song that sounds like it could be played at an old time western saloon. The piano plays a jolly and bouncing melody, while the drums and guitars carry the attitude of the west. Malmberg brings it back to earth with her lyrics about a long lost father, and her sweet voice is an instrument all its own. "Mockingbird" follows with an example of how Petracovich brilliantly mixes folk with sometimes electronic sound-scapes. She carries this tradition throughout with "I'll Return As Waterbird" where the banjo's presence lingers and never overpowers, and Malmberg's vocal grace washes over beautifully. The fast and fun "Sleep It Off/Lie Down" is a welcome shift after the melancholy break, until the ballad "Syracuse Next Six Exits" returns with the aire of a cello. Listen to this song with headphones: pure bliss.
"San Rafael" is a good song for the middle of the album. It has a perfect mix of equal parts whimsy and melancholy. "Big Heart" features some nice dynamic changes and though the song never seems to go anywhere, it doesn't really have to because its just right where it is. "You Are This Perfect" really makes a grand entrance and leaves just as eloquently. This is the song that will bring a tear to most eyes, as it is a poignant tribute to Peters-Malmberg's then unborn child. As the other ballads are perfectly handled, this one is no different, and the subject matter is that much more fitting. "Miramar" is an easy sing along track, while "The Boy Who Was Caught" is another strong piano centric yet driving pop song elevated by diverse sonic textures.
It's impossible not to recommend this album. The lyrics are encumbered with a sense of honesty and wit coupled with Petracovich's ability to meld eloquent sound-scapes and folk sensibilities. Peters-Malmberg has the voice of an angel, and if I'll be damned if I didn't just describe a perfect package. Craypusculo just might be the closest thing thus far this year.
Babysue
Petracovich, "Crepusculo"
Petracovich - Crepusculo (CD, Red Button , Pop)
The third full-length release from Jessica Peters Malmberg who goes by the name Petracovich. Crepusculo is a beautifully inspired album featuring more of the kind of smooth, soothing, smart songs that Jessica's fans have come to expect. There's an interesting but sad story attached to this album. It was recorded in 2008 while Malmberg was pregnant with her first child. Shortly afterward the child was born...only to die 8 days later. At that point the album was appropriately shelved in order to give Jessica time to grieve. Thankfully time has passed now which has allowed Crepusculo to see the light of day. (And, as a side note, Jessica is also now pregnant with her second child.) We would recommend this album highly to anyone who ever loved Kate Bush's first two solo albums (before she got carried away with technology). Crepusculo features wonderfully melodic tunes with weaving arrangements, smart lyrics, and a totally groovy vibe. Petracovich is one of those underground artists who could easily become hugely successful if all the right pieces were to fall into place. Thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. (Rating: 5+++)
Wildy's World
Petracovich, "Crepusculo"
by Wildy Haskell
Petracovich is a San Francisco band that is both the figurative and literal projection of Jessica Peters Malmberg's muse, which can run the gamut from ethereal yet trippy quasi-dance tunes to Americana/folk story songs. Peters is an eclectic and engaging performer who writes without filters; the full range of thoughts and emotions are on display whenever Peters stands in front of a microphone. Petracovich's third CD, Crepuscolo, finds the band continuing to evolve toward a Pop/Folk sound that began to show on Petracovich's 2nd album, We Are Wyoming.
Crepuscolo opens with Heaven Help The Day, a sweet sounding Folk/Pop tune with serious issues buried deep in the song. The narrator doesn't know her father and wanders the world always wondering if her Dad is out there somewhere. Emotional revenge is the order of the day in a fuzzy piano tune that is reminiscent of Ben Folds. Peters delivers a soft and sweet vocal performance on Mockingbird that is full of a texture and grace not often found in the popular realm. Sleep It Off/Lie Down finds Petracovich sounding like a cross between The Be Good Tanyas and Lisa Loeb; the song is well-written and pleasant side-trip along the way. Syracuse Next Six Exits is all about finding peace wherever you might be, even the longest short stretch of the New York State Thruway there is. The melody and arrangement on this song are exquisite.
Big Heart is a plaintive song of devotion built on a lanky arrangement that's just starting to get comfortable in its own skin. The dynamics make the song here, turning a lush green into a verdant field on which Peters can play. Dark Woods is a highly charged but brief instrumental that is built not so much as a whole but a conglomeration of musical pieces that is jarring and lovely at the same time. You Are This Perfect is an enthralling composition written to Peters' then-unborn baby. The song is a bittersweet tribute now as that child survived only eight days, but the love of a mother for her unborn child has never been transferred into song more perfectly. This is one of those Wow moments that happens from time to time in music and makes the album worth checking out all on its own. Make sure you also spend some time with Miramar, Last Day Of February and the live recording of We Must Have Been Birds.
Petracovich exudes a sense of reality and honesty that is daring, even surprising. Spinning golden threads of melody and quirky yet contemplative lyrics into an alchemists' dream of what Pop music should be; Petracovich delights song after song. Crepuscolo is one of those albums that doesn't bowl you over, yet you don't want to take it out of your CD player or playlist for days or weeks on end. Jessica Peters Malmberg is enthralling as a vocalist and storyteller. This disc is a must-have.
Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)
Sacramento News & Review
Petracovich, "Crepusculo": Wild Bears Attack Band
by Becca Costello
Then a very pregnant Jessica Peters, the driving energy behind Petracovich, took over the patio's makeshift stage like M.I.A. on Grammy night. That is, if M.I.A. played gorgeously layered keyboard compositions and the occasional banjo. When Peters closed the show with "Heaven Help the Day," the boisterous first track on her new CD, Crepusculo, dancing rattled the floorboards. A crowd gathered on the sidewalk, and even the underage kids crowded around the fish 'n' chips place next door reveled like their tipsy older brethren.
LA Music Blog
Petracovich at Hotel Café August 10th 2009
by Kristin Houser
I'd always heard that pregnancy was supposed to be draining. It certainly didn't seem to be affecting Petracovich's frontwoman, Jessica Peters, during the CD release show for the group's third album, Crepusculo, Monday night. The pregnant Peters performed with seemingly limitless energy, her leg bouncing up and down with the beat as she played her piano-driven folk-pop songs. One can only imagine the future addition to her family will be born knowing all of the Petracovich tracks by heart. After only one evening with the group, I already have more than a few melodies stuck in my head.
With Angela Correa
The CD release of Petracovich's Crepusculo, Max on Drums, jess on keys, grace on harmonium, beautiful!
The Portland Mercury
First Fest: Swim Swam Swum, Carcrashlander, Thee Headliners , Petracovich, Ocean Age, Wishyunu
by Ned Lannamann
(Berbati's Pan,, 10 SW 3rd) Local production company Potlatch's three-night First Fest kicks off tonight. Familiar names like Carcrashlander and Swim Swam Swum headline on the first night, but don't overlook the marvelous piano pop of Santa Rosa, California's Petracovich. Led by the sparkling songwriting and voice of Jessica Peters, Crepusculo (which was recorded in Portland) is absolutely wonderful, each song a delicate delight. Peters infuses every song with both power and pulsating beauty; she was pregnant while she recorded Crepusculo, and the expectant joy is evident in every note. Tragically, her son Otto died eight days after he was born last August. Peters' loss is undeniable, but the record, finally released after a period of grieving, remains an uplifting testament to Otto's short life. The First Fest is a dirt-cheap $5 per day, or you can splurge and pay $10 for a three-day wristband.
Eugene Weekly
Wistful Grace
by Molly Templeton
It's been four years since Petracovich's second album, We Are Wyoming, a collection of musical still lifes built out of piano melodies, bells and ambience, wound together by Jessica Peters Malmberg's airy but substantial voice. Her new album, Crepusculo, is immediately different - though what makes it so isn't as instantly apparent. Her delivery is direct on "Heaven Help the Day," a story about being left by family; "Big Heart," a song that welcomes sorrow and big feelings in equal measure, is sprightly and swelling. But a few songs later, Peters Malmberg is fragile as can be on the delicate "You Are This Perfect." Crepusculo is dotted with moments like this; it shifts between lively bits of storytelling and songs that shiver with intimacy.
On her blog, Peters Malmberg tells the stories that led to some of these songs, but no story is as heartbreaking as the post in which she recounts recording Crepusculo while pregnant with her first child - only to lose that child eight days after his birth. The rest of Peters Malmberg's inspirations pale and retreat in comparison; after reading her blog, it's almost impossible to listen to Crepusculo without my ear snagging on every reference to babies, family, blood, love. The album's last track, the wistful "We Must Have Been Birds," comes in with strange grace, its subtle certainty a relief, a sign of happier things to come. Petracovich plays at 9 pm Friday, July 31, at Wandering Goat. $5.
Santa Barbara News Press
Kind of blue: Petracovich, aka Jessica Peters-Malmberg, returns with a third album and a mini tour
by Ted Mills
There's a broken heart on the CD of Petracovich's third studio album, "Crepusculo." And there's one on the cover art, the leaking watercolor paint looking like a pale bloodstain. And while there are broken hearts in the songs themselves (more on that shortly), anyone who has followed Jessica Peters-Malmberg's career up to this point will be surprised at just how fun she sounds on the opening number, "Heaven Help the Day," a real barnstormer of a track from somebody not known for storming barns. "After doing two albums full of atmospheres, I wanted to do more straightforward things," she says. "It's what my heart wanted to do." The artistic journey that had led her out of Santa Barbara and up to Santa Rosa came with a break from her usual collaborator-producer, Tad Wagner (though Wagner does appear on the album, adding guitars to several tracks.), and she instead found herself in the Portland studio of John Askew, Type Foundry. "He's able to use a lot of acoustic instruments but create a big sound with it," she says. "The studio had a nice big room with an open sound." The album still contains the twilight-spooky ballads found on "Blue Cotton Skin" (2004) and "We Are Wyoming" (2005), but now there's more piano and less synth, more drums (from Max Diez) and less drum machine. There's a broken heart on the CD of Petracovich's third studio album, "Crepusculo." And there's one on the cover art.
The Daily News
Petracovich, "Crepusculo"
by Brian Krasman
Jessica Peters Malmberg might have one heck of a hefty sea of folkminded singer-songwriters in which to wade, but her wonderful voice and earnestness easily should help her stay afloat long after others have succumbed to the rising waves. Using her grandfather's last name to label her work, Malmberg, whose voice lands between Becky Stark and Laura Veirs, clings to love and longing, telling tales that stick with you long after the music has come to its end.
The 13 songs on her third album exist just long enough to make their mark, which they do indelibly. "Heaven Help the Day" wonders if the strangers she sees on the street could be an estranged parental figure, though the words seem to lend themselves to double meaning; "You Are This Perfect" goes the other way, seeing the beauty in the eyes of a loved one, registering (perhaps on purpose) like a lullaby. "Sleep It Off/Lie Down" and "San Rafael" plod a folk-country road; "Mockingbird" is delicate and cognizant; and the closing live version of "We Must Have Been Birds" adds the proper amount of noise to what's otherwise serene. Malmberg's work is a shining example that a gifted artist can take something many others have tried and make it that much better simply by adding some heart and truth. Keep coming back, Jessica.
Mainstream isn't so bad...is it?
Petracovich, "Crepusculo" - Musical Twilight
by Brian Krasman
Listening to Petracovich's music makes me feel like I'm floating in twilight. It's lush, it's rich, it carries weight, it glides. Jessica Peters Malmberg forms the core of Petracovich, and it's around her and her experiences that this album revolves. Written while she was pregnant with her first child, who was lost after only eight days in this world, the album was placed aside, to be dusted off when the pain subsided. Along with the release of the album, she's claimed a new found happiness with another child on the way.
Although written before the dark event, it still carries a dark beauty to it, like soft, deep red, velvet cloth: luxurious to touch, yet evocative of a sense of anticipation of thinly veiled gloom, not yet realized, but lurking. Listen to the beauty of Mockingbird below, a song from her new album Crepusculo, whose slow pacing and quiet despair do a wonderful job of revealing the album's allure.
LA Music Blog
Petracovich, "Crepusculo"
by Kristin Houser
After watching Jessica Peters, front-woman and writer for Petracovich, perform during her CD release show last month at Hotel Cafe, I had no choice but to get my hands on a copy of the group's latest album, Crepusculo. A single night of Peters' folk poems sung over piano just wasn't going to cut it. This was music that needed to be available to me 24/7 and, I doubted Peters would be interested in being my on-call musician. Those of you who read the show review will remember that she has a baby on the way. No baby, and I'm sure I could just send her a pager and it'd be all good. Darn babies.
Anywho, after multiple listens I still haven't had enough of Peters' latest effort. From just the one listen at the show I was able to sing along with the opener "Heaven Help the Day," and sing along I did. Tracks that sounded amazing live take on a whole new dimension on the album. The horns and harmonies on the recorded version of "Sleep It Off/Lie Down" made me fall in love for a second time with a song that already had me hooked, and Peters' ability to keep her voice strong while at a volume barely above a whisper adds a childlike element to the record. Fans of Eisley will think there's a fourth sister the DuPrees have kept hidden all these years. That "San Rafael" was inspired by an experience Peters would have while stuck in traffic is interesting since the song has such drive behind it. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the mountain referenced in the song is Mount Tamalpais just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Peters somehow finds time between writing amazing songs and performing them live (oh yeah, and the baby thing) to keep a tour diary and blog to fans about song meanings and life happenings. Come to think of it, she's practically a 24/7 musician already.
Aiding and Abetting
Petracovich, "Crepusculo"
(self-released)
Another outing from Petracovich, and the third one is even better than the first two. Jessica Peters Malmberg writes songs in something approximating a folk style, and then she paints around the edges with the latest electronic sounds. It's a formula that has worked for years, but I'm really knocked out this time. The songs are more complex even as they've become more approachable. The electronics have been scaled back , and there's a bit more of an emphasis on acoustic instruments, but that's not the whole story. In short, some folks do get better with age. I still love the first two Petracovich albums, but this one is stronger in every way. In particular, the sequencing is impressive. This album rises and falls and then builds to a climax. It's not a concept album, but it is an album as opposed to a collection of songs. Simply wonderful. I've been a fan for a while, but the overwhelming quality here overwhelmed me. Quite a disc.
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AUDIO
Click on the audio track below to download a mp3:
Petracovich - Crepusculo [2009]
San Rafael [mp3] - 3.03 mb (song clip)
Heaven Help The Day [mp3] - 4.02 mb (full song)
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