Faith Healer – Cosmic Troubles (Mint)
Jessica Jalbert’s astral, deadpan psychedelia is the best Lou Reed tribute you’ll ever hear. Instead of stripping the Velvet Underground for parts, Jalbert latches onto the weird renderings of tiny details that made that band iconic and coats them in her own reverb, coppery harmonies, and blown-out guitars. That’d be a reason unto itself to listen to Cosmic Troubles, but factor in her incisive, sardonic songwriting and the appeal increases exponentially. Here’s an uncharted universe of wry, golden fuzz-pop replete with barbed phrases, eyerolls and towering analogue dreaminess. Somewhere out there in the cosmos, Lou is humming along. –Caitlin