Cassandra Jenkins has released her new album My Light, My Massage Parlor digitally today via Dead Oceans. A physical release of the album will follow on 5th September.
“I love falling under the spell of a side quest. This one started when I heard an emotive piano cover of a Top 40 hit—rendered almost unrecognizable—and led me down the path of this style of music—its quiet extremity, and all that it had to teach me.
“Along the way, I wondered if my songs would ever make it into the hands of a “relaxing piano” alias bot, and I was reminded of how impossible it is for me to be anything but human. I fell back in love with the CDs and cassettes of my childhood—stacks of nature sound compilations set to piano, saxophone, and string quartet.” – Cassandra Jenkins
Also shared today is the visualiser for new single “Wormhold Music,” which features a segment pulled from My Light, My Massage Parlor’s full album video, in which Cassandra captures a slice of the daily life around a massage parlor—a place which has become something of a muse for her.
Stream My Light, My Massage Parlor
Watch the “Wormhold Music” Video
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 newly 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 takes 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