Cassandra Jenkins has unveiled a new track, ‘American Spirits’, which is lifted from her upcoming outtakes album (An Overview on) An Overview on Phenomenal Nature. Give it a listen below.
The upcoming collection features outtakes and alternate tracks from Jenkins’ latest LP An Overview on Phenomenal Nature, which she recorded with Josh Kaufman. Talking about the story behind the new track, Jenkins said in a statement:
I woke up one morning with a voicemail from an unknown number while I was on tour in 2018. The area code was from the Texas border, and I had a sinking feeling my friend had gotten arrested on his way to come see us play in Joshua Tree. I’m fortunate to be close to someone who can speak so candidly about their incarceration and how the prison system has continuously affected their life. When we spoke recently about the voicemail in this recording, I asked him what he was feeling in that moment. He said, “I was really scared. So I called you, and I called a lawyer.”
I cherished this voicemail for years because, even in that difficult moment, I could hear a tenderness in his voice as he confessed, as well as avoided, reporting that he had spent the night in jail. What resulted is the poetic ambiguity that can arise from the struggle of searching for the words to tell someone we love exactly what has happened.
(An Overview On) An Overview On Phenomenal Nature arrives November 19 via Ba Da Bing Records. Check out our Artist Spotlight interview with Cassandra Jenkins here.
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