Apr 1, 2021

Cassandra Jenkins Album Review: An Overview On Phenomenal Nature

It seems like not too many people know about Cassandra Jenkins with her beautiful music and amazing voice. Through her second album, An Overview on Phenomenal Nature is filled with stories, people, and dialogue like an emotional breakthrough.

Cassandra Jenkins is a native New Yorker, who came up through the East Coast folk scene playing in her family's band before launching a solo career in the mid-2010s. Right after, she quickly became active as a collaborator, playing in the touring bands of Eleanor Friedberger, Craig Finn, and Purple Mountains. Cassandra Jenkins albums, Play Till You Win in 2017 and An Overview on Phenomenal Nature released in 2021, took an experimental turn, mixing elements of dream pop and dusky indie rock.

Cassandra Jenkins was born in a dynamic musical Manhattan family, where she learned to sing and to play the guitar at a young age. By the age of 12, she started to tour the folk festival circuit alongside her parents and two siblings as part of a family band specializing in Western swing, folk, and jazz.

Performing some gigs on the side, Cassandra Jenkins maintained her musical connections and she released a 2014 solo EP. Through the album, her songs extract the inner landscapes with impressive poetic grace. With her 2017 album, Play Till You Win, the rich pop textures and moody synths joined the acoustic guitar and strings in a sweet balance of harmony.

An Overview on Phenomenal Nature is the second album by Cassandra Jenkins of splendid, melodic folk and chamber pop. This album is a pleasing meditation on the state of the world around us expressed through seven tracks which include "Michelangelo," "New Bikini," "Hard Drive," "Crosshairs," "Ambiguous Norway," "Hailey," and "The Ramble."

The album starts with "Michelangelo" as it echoes Cassandra Jenkins' Americana-tinged debut, 2017's Play Till You Win. From here, things drift jazzier and more elevated, but with quieter moments. With the song, "Ambiguous Norway," and "Hailey," ebbing synths are called upon to stir up wells of emotions.

"New Bikini" song is about the aftermath of Berman's death and friends that can bear Jenkins up with the same viscosity of the seawater that surrounds her.

The album's greatest hits come at the end with the three songs that earn its spot next to labelmate Julie Byrne's infinitely quiet debut. "Ambiguous Norway" may take place where it says it does, but it is hardly ambiguous. The song "Harley" is reverential, while the subject also provides Cassandra Jenkins with the promise of the new year. Jenkins gives us the reflection of her woodland walk around of "The Ramble," colored with sounds of garbage trucks, sirens, children, bird song, and the "chk, chk, chk," of an impact sprinkler, which is truly the gift of a safe space.

To listen to the full album of Cassandra Jenkins, please find the video below. Go check her out and support the amazing music she has created for this album.