PETRACOVICH
Crepusculo
(Red Buttons)

By Kimberly Chun

At moments sounding like the next girl wonder to score an iTunes hit by way of One Tree Hill, at others resembling a girlish Ray Davies wandering west of the Village Green, Jessica Peters Malmberg of the Bay-based Petracovich is something of a local treasure --underappreciated, unpeggable, undeniably talented. Here, the vocalist and multi-instrumentalist toys with a more acoustic yet full-bodied sound than that found on her last, more electronics-riddled full-length, We Are Wyoming (Red Buttons, 2005). She’s surrounded by a nimbus of glistening piano notes and banjo plucks on “Mocking Bird” and bathed in stately brass, spunky vibes, and earthy cello on “I’ll Return as Waterbird.” Yes, fowl dart through Crepusculo as if they were racing to escape a Neko Case petting zoo. Rest assured, Malmberg keeps matters from growing too precious: there’s even hints of grit and bassy backbone to tunes like the orchestral indie-folk “Sleep It Off/Lie Down.”