Jackie Cohen decided the only way forward was to succumb to crisis, to relax into it instead of fighting, to find beauty even in the flame—an approach that fuels her sublime new album, Pratfall, due September 9th. Because of the record’s pandemic origins, Cohen was only aided in studio by two collaborators: her husband, Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado, and engineer Rias Reed. “We were a tight pod,†she laughs. The three musicians holed up at Sonora Recorders in Los Angeles, tapping into the studio’s vaulted ceilings and haunted feeling to amplify Cohen’s widescreen songwriting. "Elliott Smith recorded some stuff there, and it always seemed like there was a ghost banging around in there, turning lights on and off," she says, before adding a cheery followup: “Shakira recorded there too, can’t forget another 5’2†icon.†On Pratfall, Cohen renders both extremes of that range of experience in warm, inviting indie pop. "I didn't want to write a dirge inspired by the darkest moments of my life, I wanted a cathartic moment, to experience the emotion and build from it," Cohen says. "This record is a climax where everything becomes explosive and you can just close your eyes, give in, and dance it off."
