Cassandra Jenkins: My Light, My Destroyer review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week
![Cassandra Jenkins: My Light, My Destroyer review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/65f2f8c875ef7a95c22207e89daeb68a9da0cf8d/161_223_2389_1433/master/2389.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=80cd119276edb221d15b694131f4d96c)
(Dead Oceans)
Following her breakthrough in 2021, the singer-songwriter has overcome self-doubt to deliver a diverse album where loneliness is set against cosmic wonder
It’s fair to say that Cassandra Jenkins did not expect to achieve a minor commercial breakthrough with her 2021 album An Overview on Phenomenal Nature. A set of songs mired in grief, some of it occasioned by the suicide of songwriter and Silver Jews frontman David Berman, with whom Jenkins was set to tour as part of his band Purple Mountains, Jenkins apparently wasn’t sure if she wanted to release the album. When she did, it ended up on a succession of year-end best-of lists and occasioned a deal with Dead Oceans, a sub-label of Secretly Canadian, the US indie that has seen a succession of its female artists, including Mitski, Phoebe Bridgers and Faye Webster, transcend the usual audience for thoughtful indie singer-songwriters to gain a foothold on TikTok.
It’s not inconceivable that something similar could happen to Jenkins. Her music is noticeably more abstract than that of the others – five of My Light, My Destroyer’s tracks are instrumentals, ranging from a sedate piece for violin and cello to jazzy, improvised brass topped with a recording of Jenkins discussing astronomy with her mum. However, it shares an emotional blend of warmth and melancholy and a certain small-hours intimacy – even the Pixies-esque distorted guitars of Petco are smoothed out by the whispery tone of her vocals and the sweetness of its melody. It certainly doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to picture the calm, synthesised and hushed pop chorus of Only One playing in the background of umpteen TikTok contributions.
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