by Dominic Acito (@mycamgrlromance)
Cassandra Jenkins’ latest album, An Overview On Phenomenal Nature, begins with “Michelangelo,” a song that starts with clean chugging guitar, vocals, and backing keyboards. Once the percussion hits, the album’s power immediately reveals itself. Lush, layered instrumentation, coupled with impactful, unique songwriting turns the album’s mere 32 minutes into an extended journey inward with songs that at once stand on their own and intersect with strong thematic strands.
As the album progresses into “New Bikini,” we get our first glimpse into the origin stories of many of the songs on this record as well as the themes surrounding the loss of a close friend to suicide. Juxtaposing what initially sounds like an enjoyable experience, “New Bikini” doesn’t fulfill the expectation of a new suit, but rather presents more of a celebration of the cleansing power of cold new waters.
Jenkins, a friend of David Berman, was set to play as a touring member of Purple Mountains on their 2019 tour dates. Following Berman’s death, she ended up taking some time to process the loss of her friend in Norway. This resulted in the composition of many of the songs on this record, foreshadowed in “New Bikini” and “Ambiguous Norway” which elegantly express how the loss of a loved one makes them ever present in daily life… “you’re gone, you’re everywhere.” Norway and New York figure into this album in a strong way. “Ambiguous Norway” which gets its title from a David Berman cartoon, is personally relatable to our own traumas, even through the Berman references are numerous.
One of the standout tracks on this album is “Hard Drive”. It’s stylistically unique as it takes influence from beat poets who set poetry to jazz music but instead of focusing on the typical beat poetry emphasis on urban decay, Jenkins explores sculpture, technology, psychology, politics and the birth of the cosmos. All of these come together and mimic intrusive thoughts that come and go during a meditation, forming a uniquely modern piece of writing. It takes our abundantly complex understanding of our world and universe and weaves it into a piece of music that has a casual, conversational feeling to it. The track includes a recording of a security guard at the Met Bruer gallery, who offered “an overview on phenomenal nature,” giving the album its title and much of its momentum.
The record concludes with an instrumental track, “The Ramble”. The song’s relaxing, laid back instrumentation against the backdrop of birdsong is a satisfying conclusion to an album that’s as healing and therapeutic to the listener as it seems to be for its creators. Setting the sounds of nature and birdsong to the instrumental final cut galvanizes the album’s testament to the resilience of nature. How we too should be like “a three-legged dog working with what I got.”