Illinois Times - Springfield, IL

 Blue Cotton Skin, the debut CD from Petracovich,came out nearly a year ago, and, chances are, you missed it. That's OK. So did almost everyone. Self-released and overlooked by most of the major press outlets, it was better off ignored than mishandled by marketing dorks and branding strategists. For something so luminous and rare, it makes more sense to trust in the power of word-of-mouth testimonials. If you find yourself stationed on a street corner, furtively pressing homemade cassettes into strangers' hands, don't say you weren't warned.

 Petracovich is basically Jessica Peters, who sings, programs, plays various keyboard instruments, and writes all of the music. It's clearly her band, but her collaborators do an admirable job of executing her arrangements, which flutter delicately from art rock to psych-pop to trip-hop to underground folk. With her love of laptops rivaling her love of sticky hooks, Peters makes electronic music for singing in cars, not for selling cars, and the difference is never more apparent than on the CD's highlight, "Bird's in Flight." A candy cathedral of handclaps, piano, fake strings, and layers of girl-group harmonies, the song takes the old Beatles' minor-to-major template and turns it into something Paul McCartney only wishes he could still write. "I've got what you neeeeeeeeeed," Peters lilts, as pure and affectless as an icicle. It's not bragging if it's true.

 -- René Spencer Saller reviews new music for Illinois Times. Contact her at rssaller@core.com