Cassandra Jenkins — who released Exclaim!'s favourite song of 2021 with An Overview on Phenomenal Nature's "Hard Drive" — has announced her new album called My Light, My Destroyer, out July 12 on her new label home at Dead Oceans.
Alongside the announcement, Jenkins has also shared its dewy lead single, "Only One," which finds Jenkins expanding the silky, jazz-smeared folk rock of Phenomenal Nature into the world of chugging, '80s-inspired pop. "Only One" comes attached to a video directed by Lydia Fine and Tony Blahd.
"It's about a Groundhog Day effect, finding yourself in the same situation over and over again, not knowing how to get out of that loop," Jenkins said in a statement. "And in some sense, an unwillingness to break a cycle because you're blinded by your circumstances."
My Light, My Destroyer is Jenkins's third studio album, and it features a stacked roster of collaborators that includes Palehound's El Kempner, Hand Habits' Meg Duffy, Daniel McDowell, Isaac Eiger, Katie Von Schleicher, Zoë Brecher, Josh Kaufman, Stephanie Marziano and more.
Following An Overview on Phenomenal Nature's release in 2021, Jenkins shared an outtakes collection, plus covers of Eartheater, Animal Collective and Vashti Bunyan, an improvisational EP with Suhail Yusuf Khan and the single "American Spirits." A new version of "Hard Drive" also appears on the Musicians for a Free Palestine benefit compilation, which was announced today.
Check out "Only One," plus the My Light, My Destroyer tracklist, below.
My Light, My Destroyer:
1. Devotion
2. Clams Casino
3. Delphinium Blue
4. Shatner's Theme
5. Aurora, IL
6. Betelgeuse
7. Omakase
8. Music??
9. Petco
10. Attente Téléphonique
11. Tape and Tissue
12. Only One
13. Hayley