Having recently released her second single, "Hard Drive", which was named a Pitchfork "Best New Track" and chosen by NPR's All Songs Considered Bob Boilen as his "Best Track of January", New York City artist and musician Cassandra Jenkins has now unveiled "Crosshairs", the newest song and video from her upcoming album, An Overview on Phenomenal Nature, out February 19th on Ba Da Bing Records. Fresh and impromptu, the one-shot video for "Crosshairs" was created by Jenkins just this past week using the wintry backdrop of New York City as her palette - capturing the fragile beauty and sense of isolation that many are feeling during these times. Watch and share video here, pre-order album here.
Jenkins states, "I wrote 'Crosshairs' in the before times - not thinking about isolation. Listening to the song now, it reads more literally; I've never craved human interaction in the way I have over the course of the past year, and my experience of time has completely shifted. I decided to shoot this video over the weekend because I want to capture the snowy cityscape of New York in February of 2021 and how my inner landscape feels in this moment - simultaneously miniscule and expansive."
"I love talking to strangers, especially when there are no words exchanged," she continues. "We have the opportunity to step outside of ourselves when we engage with a stranger's gaze, in the same way that an artist like Cindy Sherman engages with a camera lens. And when we allow our identities to fall apart, we get closer to dissolving into something greater than ourselves."
Her new album, An Overview on Phenomenal Nature, honors these identities and mirrors the flux, detail, and moments of intimacy inherent within. Jenkins arrived at engineer Josh Kaufman's studio with ideas rather than full songs - nevertheless, they finished the album in a week. Jenkins' voice floats amid sensuous chamber pop arrangements and raw-edged drums, ferrying us through impressionistic portraits of friends and strangers. Her lyrics unfold magical worlds: introducing you to a cast of characters like a local fisherman, a psychic at a birthday party, and a driving instructor of a spiritual bent. "The goal is to be more fluid, to be more like the clouds shifting constantly," she says, the concept of which allowed her to express herself like she never has.
Jenkins' last record, 2017's Play Till You Win, confirmed the veteran artist's talent. Evident of Jenkins' experience growing up in a family band in New York City, the album showcased her meticulous songwriting and musicianship, earning her comparisons to George Harrison and Emmylou Harris. She has since played in the bands of Eleanor Friedberger, Craig Finn, and Lola Kirke, and was rehearsing to tour with David Berman's Purple Mountains last August before his untimely passing resulted in the tour's cancellation. An Overview on Phenomenal Nature reflects some of that turmoil and pain, while also departing from her previous work in its openness and flexibility. If the album has any kind of unifying overall theme, Jenkins feels that it is the power of presence and the joy of opening oneself up to change.
