Cassandra Jenkins Announces New Album, Shares Video For New Song 'Only One'

Cassandra Jenkins Announces New album, Shares Video For New Song 'Only One'

My Light, My Destroyer Out July 12th via Dead Oceans

April 16, 2024

By Mark Redfern

Photo by Pooneh Ghana

Cassandra Jenkins Announces New album, My Light, My Destroyerand shared his first single, “Only One,” via a music video. My Light, My Destroyer is due out July 12 via Dead Oceans, her first album for the label (which also announced her signing today). Check out “Only One” below, followed by the tracklist and album art.

My Light, My Destroyer following Jenkins' famous album released in 2021, An overview of phenomenal natureand its companion album, An Overview of (An Overview of Phenomenal Nature)released later in 2021. Both released via Ba Da Bing.

In a press release, Jenkins says this An overview of phenomenal nature it was her “predicted swan song” that she was going to stop touring and release new music, but was then taken aback by the positive reception of this album and the attention it garnered.

“I was directing what I knew at the time – I felt lost,” says Jenkins. “When that record came out and people started responding to what I had written, my plans to quit were thwarted in the most unexpected, encouraging and generous way. Ready or not, it revived me.”

But when it came time to record a follow-up album, Jenkins initially struggled to recreate the magic in the studio, saying that after two years of touring she was “running on fumes”.

“I was coming from a place of exhaustion and exhaustion, and in the months following the session, I was struggling to accept that I didn't like the record I'd just made. I felt uninspired,” he explains, “so I started all over again.”

Leaving the initial sessions for the new album, and with the help of producer, engineer and mixer Andrew Lappin (L'Rain, Slauson Malone 1), Jenkins began My Light, My Destroyer a new.

“When we were listening back in the control room that first day, I could see a space on my record shelf starting to open up because the songs were finding their homes in real time,” he says of the second attempt to record the album. “That spark informed the design for the rest of the album, and its completion was propelled by a new momentum.”

A press release mentions Tom Petty, Annie Lennox, Neil Young, David Bowie's latest album Black starDavid Berman, and albums in her “high school CD wallet” (Radiohead's The BendsThe Breeders, PJ Harvey and Pavement) as influences on My Light, My Destroyer. And the album also features a large number of collaborators including: Palehound's El Kempner, Hand Habits' Meg Duffy, Isaac Eiger (ex-Strange Ranger), Katie Von Schleicher, Zoë Brecher (Hushpuppy), Daniel McDowell (Amen Dunes), producer and instrumentalist Josh Kaufman (of Jenkins' An overview), producer Stephanie Marziano (Hayley Williams, Bartees Strange) and director/actress/journalist Hailey Benton Gates.

Coming home to New York after so much time on the road also inspired the album.

“I feel more energized when I'm out in the world, mixing things up,” Jenkins says. “Coming back home to New York, being with my close friends and my community, riding the subway and going to live shows made me want to channel the palpable feeling of electricity into a room full of people – I have to to fully immerse myself in my surroundings. New York is endlessly stimulating and I'm very impressed.”

Of My Light, My DestroyerThe title of his album, Jenkins explains: “Awe is a function of nature that prevents us from losing connection. Staying in touch with awe, that light, is the best antidote to fear and the forces that try to control us with fear. So in that sense, staying in touch with awe is keeping my light intact, and it's my best tool for destroying and dismantling the parts of myself and the world around me that have the potential to cause damage. Honestly, that's what keeps me from giving up—it serves as a reminder to stop and appreciate my time on earth, for all its chaos and beauty.”

And of the album's first single, “Only One,” Jenkins explains: “It's about one Groundhog Day result, being in the same situation over and over again, not knowing how to get out of that loop – and in some ways, an unwillingness to break a cycle because you're blinded by your circumstances.”

Jenkins was one of the artists featured in our 20th anniversary Covers Covers album, where he covered “It's You” by Animal Collective.

Read our 2021 interview with Jenkins, where she discusses An overview of phenomenal nature.

My Light, My Destroyer Track List:

1. Devotion
2. Clams Casino
3. Delphinium Blue
4. Shatner theme
5. Aurora, IL
6. Betelgeuse
7. Omakase
8. Music???
9. Petko
10. Attente Téléphonique
11. Tape and tissue
12. Only One
13. Hayley

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