The New Cue #453: December 16: Jessica Pratt
"I see the world through the lens of my obsessions."
Good morning,
My two favourite albums of the year were made by Jessica Pratt and Cindy Lee, who I was actually advised to check out by Jessica Pratt during an interview with her in March of 2024, about a month before Lee dropped the Diamond Jubilee LP without notice on the Internet (buy it here, I insist). At the time, I was interviewing Pratt about her masterpiece fourth album, Here in the Pitch, which came out in May.
It followed her 2019 masterpiece, Quiet Signs.
Which in turn had come out four years after the lo-fi masterpiece On Your Own Love Again.
Pratt writes intimate Bacharach-like bedsit confessionals, her music reverberating with the influences of humid tropicàlia, lovelorn 60s pop, and all points in between, as well as a kind of airy, lonesome innovation. “I like classic song structure through a weird, foggy filter,” she identified correctly in March. I am yet to find a circumstance in which playing Jessica Pratt does not first command and then improve moods.
Last week, I called her to run through our Life & Times questionnaire. As the phone rang, her PR emailed to ask if Jessica could instead fill this out herself. Her answers arrived right on time…
Enjoy the edition,
Ted and Niall.
The Life & Times Of…Jessica Pratt
What was the first record you loved?
There are two bona fide albums I can recall first having a connection with, around the same time, in my childhood. One is Stevie Wonder’s Music of My Mind, which was a family favourite; we’d often play the cassette in the car.
The second is Ladysmith Black Mumbazo’s Shaka Zulu which I absolutely rinsed on my cassette Walkman.
And the last?
Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee.
What is your earliest memory?
Seeing headlights through the windshield of a car from the perspective of the backseat.
What is your daily domestic routine?
If I’m in a period of writing, I get straight to writing as soon as possible. If not, getting caffeinated, walking, if I can read for 2 hours or more a night I feel at my best.
Who or what is the love of your life?
Whatever my obsession of the moment is. I see the world through the lens of my obsessions and if I didn’t have that driving me, I think reality would feel less alive with possibility, meaning and intrigue. Also, my fiancé, my right-hand man.
Jessica Pratt at Union Chapel, London, in June, with fiancé Matt McDermott on keyboards - literally her right-hand man.
When were you most creatively satisfied?
It feels wrong to think of it in concrete terms, one defining moment. Rather I see it as given periods of time. When I know I’m working on something good I feel creatively satisfied to a certain extent.
Has anyone you've met ever made you feel starstruck?
Burt Bacharach shook my hand, held it for a while even, in 2016 as he left the stage after a performance. I didn’t “meet” him, but that interaction must count for something. Still living off that juice. Also meeting Beck Hansen, very surreal as a child of the 90’s/00’s.
What would people be surprised to learn about you?
I might cry if I met Conan O’Brien.
If you could go back in time, where would you go?
Every step away from the present day is a step away from modern medicine, which gives me pause, so providing I could return unscathed/free of old-world microbiota, I’d be thrilled to Quantum Leap to various times and places. Victorian England, pre-colonial North America, 1960’s west coast.
What do you wish the 18-year-old you knew?
All the lessons I learned were necessary, so the idea of changing things can seem counterproductive, but I guess I could’ve been a little more resourceful in certain areas. Something like navigating a new city required a bit more daring for a very young person in the pre-smart phone age. I let other people show me the way.
What one book would you recommend we read?
War and Peace.
What was the home you grew up in like?
Rundown but warm. Lots of laughing. Financial stress. Musical.
Is there a God? If so, how does He manifest?
I’m 50/50 on the possibility of an eternal consciousness. If it exists it’s reflected in every aspect of material reality. The length and history of life on earth is already unfathomable, I guess a divine hand doesn’t seem that weird, considering. On the other hand, maybe we just got lucky.
What's the secret to a happy relationship?
Communication, an aligned sense of purpose and humour, wanting the best for the other person outside of what it means for you.
What's your greatest regret?
I try not to dwell on things I can’t change. I would’ve liked to have not taken so long to learn certain lessons.
What's the worst thing anyone has ever said to you?
I consider myself fortunate in that I struggle to think of something truly devastating. Probably stupid shit lobbed at me by pubescent boys in middle school that was designed to hurt.
When and where were you happiest?
True, uncomplicated happiness is so fleeting that it almost seems futile to seek. The closest I get is probably moments that last a few seconds. A sense of accomplishment, a feeling of connection with my fiancé free of background noise or anxiety, forgetting myself temporarily while playing music, laughing at something hard, being completely swept away by a book or film.
Have you ever been arrested?
No.
What is your pet peeve?
Soulless social climbing and when people block the travelator in the airport.
What's the closest you've ever come to death?
A car accident when I was 15. I was mostly unharmed, but it was a fairly bad one and it could’ve easily gone a different way.
Do you have any phobias?
Plenty but I worry this knowledge could be used against me, which is probably a phobia in its own right.
What depresses you?
Lack of curiosity, social media, the potential heat death of the planet, video ads in public spaces, the often-inescapable trajectory of poverty/criminal justice system.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Making music that feels meaningful to some people.
Final bonus question: when I interviewed you for MOJO, you suggested I listen to Cindy Lee, which was just before Diamond Jubilee came out, and one of the best tips I’ve ever had. Who else should we listen out for?