Cassandra Jenkins has announced her new album My Light, My Massage Parlor, released digitally on August 14, 2025, and physically on September 5th, 2025.
For the insatiably curious songwriter, the world-building exercise of creating an album implies the existence of infinite wormholes that lie within. Quietly accompanying her primary releases, Cassandra Jenkins crafted companion albums—(An Overview on) An Overview on Phenomenal Nature (2022), and the soon-to-be-released My Light, My Massage Parlor. Listeners are invited to follow along on her side quests as she deepens her investigation of the paths not taken in her initial artistic statements. While her last follow-up revealed extended voice notes and songs from the cutting room floor, her upcoming concept album of newly arranged recordings explores the rooms that lie, quite literally, on the other side of the glass. What results is an instrumental concept album featuring her longtime collaborator Michael Coleman, tickling the ivories of a nine-foot Steinway and joined by a cast of woodwinds, horns, strings, wind chimes, and, of course, crickets.
In this re-envisioning, Jenkins demonstrates her ability to see from all angles with microscopic clarity as she brings us a cycle of songs lovingly born from her self-proclaimed ‘spa era’. Take the quizzical croon from MLMD’s lead single, “Only One”: “Stick figure Sisyphus, behind massage parlor window glass, how long will this pain in my chest last?” In My Massage Parlor, a familiar guitar solo transcends the original melody in “Only Relaxation,” following a cityscape field recording that frames the album. Jenkins’ voice welcomes you into her bizarro world—one of only two times her voice appears on the otherwise instrumental album. Jenkins’ subtle sense of humor, combined with her genuine love of emotive jazz and nature cassette tapes from childhood, results in equal parts self-spoof and earnest expression.
To take this vision one step further yet, MLMMP will take the form of a two-pronged release. Jenkins’ interest in binaural audio and psychoacoustics extends to her Dolby Atmos mix of the digital format, which frames the songs within her cinematic universe of bustling downtown Manhattan and a literal massage parlor, while the limited edition vinyl remains unaware of the outside world and the role it’s playing—existing as a pure expression of music designed to lull the listener—perhaps Jenkins most of all—into a state of Delphinium Bliss, a spell cast from equal parts sincerity and play.
My Light, My Massage Parlor Digital Release Tracklist:
1. Still Rambling
2. Only Relaxation
3. Omakase of Time
4. Delphinium Bliss
5. Wormhold Music
6. Betelgeuse Masseuse
7. Haley
8. Bebop Extravaganza
My Light, My Massage Parlor Vinyl Release Tracklist:
SIDE A
1. Only Relaxation
2. Omakase of Time
3. Delphinium Bliss
SIDE B
4. Wormhold Music
5. Betelgeuse Masseuse
6. Haley
7. Bebop Extravaganza