An outstanding folk/rock debut by the Manchester-based trans singer-songwriter Jasmine Cruickshank, whose moving songs tackle ambiguous relationships, identity, tangled joy, heartache, camaraderie and isolation of trans-feminine life an LP produced by the Boygenius trio of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker. Dacus who was supported by Jasmine on tour, forwarded a recommendation to Bridgers, who then made Jasmine the first UK signing of her label Saddest Factory Records. The album is packed with wry tenderness of lyric and musical skill, strong fingerpicking as shown in opener Kitchen and particularly the beautiful title track (previously a Song of the Day here), dedicated to a friend who supported Jasmine when homeless and going through mental health problems during transformation. There’s a running theme of almost relationship situations, potent scenarios captured with deep emotions and subtlety, such as on nuanced, unfolding structure and lyrics of Elephant (“We'll sit different sides, smile across the room”) or Breaking In Reverse (“I'm not initiating anything / But I won't stop it if you start / There's a million black dogs in my head / And they're fighting with my heart … And I told you I'm writing again / And you know exactly what it's about / Two hearts breaking in reverse”). This time beginning with a bluegrass twang, another subtle, humorous and clever song, this time about identity, and with a powerful melody, is Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation, fusing different associations and realities (“But it is not me there it’s someone wearing my hair”) and features a video in which a puppet of Phoebe Bridgers sings backing vocals. The tender, intimate, but also repressed Skin on Skin is one of several other superb songs on this exquisite debut by a breakthrough talent. Out on Saddest Factory Records.
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