Faith Healer
Cosmic Troubles
Long before Jessica Jalbert began recording under the moniker Faith Healer, she fostered a tight collaborative friendship with fellow Edmonton-bred polymath Renny Wilson. They've made boppy garage rock in Tee-Tahs, kicked up a racket in Punk Explosion, and even played in a scattering of cover bands. In 2011, Wilson was a key contributor to Jalbert's solo album Brother Loyola. So when Jalbert set about creating her first album under the name Faith Healer, she naturally called on her old buddy to help out. Jalbert wrote this material while absorbing a steady diet of psychedelic rock from the '60s and '70s. This fixation translates into inventive songs that combine the sun-kissed sparkle of classic pop harmonies with head-swimming trippiness and a few forays into thundering fuzz.She and Wilson played all of the instruments themselves, with the latter also handling production duties. "He had a recording set-up in his parents' basement," Jalbert explains of the sessions. "His mom and dad cooked us dinner pretty much every time. It was very much a family affair." Wilson captured the songs using his vintage console, which - if rumours are to be believed - may have been used on some Doobie Brothers recordings back in the day. Cosmic Troubles captures the warmth of the Summer of Love along with an eclectic sense of anything-goes adventurousness.