Venuszine

by Katerina Herodotou

Jessica Peters named her musical endeavor after her grandfather, and that sense of mystical, foreign history is the backdrop for each track on Petracovich's debut album, Blue Cotton Skin. The songs are detached from current time and space; instead, they float above dimensions of human restriction as a ghost would.

Peters crafts a cool spiral of keyboards, drum machines, and electric guitars (played by helpful friends), adding a fairytale narrative with her soft voice. The vocal style is very similar to Suzanne Vega's, with an underlying strength beneath the gentleness of first impression. Her voice doesn't pierce through her instrumental arrangements, but the sturdiness of her melodies stands fast. It's not danceable, it's not convulsing; it's just subtle, simple electronic smoothies for one to replenish one's thirst.
Petracovich's first offering is ideal as background music. It's eerily quiet yet not organic and draws parallels to Portishead on downers.