Apart from the anticipated arrival of the posthumous album from hyper pop powerhouse SOPHIE, 2024 saw a continuation in the long standing lack of trans representation in music. But amongst a meadow of established cisgender acts, trans and non binary artists are at last beginning to sprout up, especially amongst the indie scene. Manchester based singer-songwriter jasmine.4.t (Jasmine Cruickshank) is next in line to take the stage, gathering international attention as the first UK act signed to Phoebe Bridgers label Saddest Factory records. Her debut album You Are The Morning is a raw, honest portrayal of the highs and lows of trans existence that effortlessly tiptoes between folk and indie rock.
The album’s searing sincerity is enhanced through warts and all production courtesy of Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, best known as the members that make up indie rock collective boygenius. Utilising a band made up solely of trans musicians, Phoenix Rousiamanis add piano and strings, with Eden O’Brien on drums and Emily Abbott on bass.
Opening track ‘Kitchen’ is an airy acoustic gem with a certain fuzziness to it, as if recorded to tape whilst sat on a bedroom floor, whilst lead single ‘Skin On Skin’ presents a shift in sound, opening up and expanding into gleeful grunge.
On hazy number ‘Highfield’, Jasmine expresses the danger that comes with being out, with vocals that float high above the stripped back track, before ‘Breaking In Reverse’ chugs along towing its thudding bass drums and snatches of screeching guitar. Title track ‘You Are The Morning’ is an undoubtable highlight; a heartfelt ode to queer friendship and solidarity melding fingerpicked folk with breezy strings.
In one-and-a-half minute interlude ‘Best Friend’s House’, Jasmine cuts straight to the chase, addressing the period she spent sleeping on friend’s couches after her family failed to accept her. Joined by shimmering tambourine and a gleaming chorus, she affirms the importance and validity in choosing those we hold dearest.
On top of their production expertise, all three members of boygenius also lend their vocal skills to the album. Phoebe Bridgers lends her voice to hoedown gone haywire ‘Guy Fawkes Tesco Disassociation’, while Julien Baker takes her turn on ‘Tall Girl’, a lighthearted look at living up to gender expectations.
Featuring Lucy Dacus, ‘New Shoes’ presents the perfect blend of buttery soft keys that melt away into fuzzy guitar. It’s the oldest song to feature on the album, with a version originally appearing on Jasmine’s 2019 EP Worn Through, released prior to her transition. Written about her ex-spouse, the pain in returning to the track is palpable, her strained voice breaking down into tears as her vocal take concludes. ‘Roan’ retains this melancholy before breaking into birdsong, wrapping up like a warm blanket on a cold day.
Written early in her transition about her first trans love, Jasmine says of breakthrough single ‘Elephant’: “It’s about when it hurts because you’re trying to be friends but you both want to be more”. Lighting up with simple strumming before more aspects are gradually added, the track builds up and up before exploding into a euphoric burst of electric guitar. Fading to ‘Transition’, those fiery sparks smoulder into a heavenly interlude of overlapping harmonies, expertly provided by the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles.
All the album’s threads are tied up in concluding track ‘Woman’, a song so simple, and yet so concerted in its emotional expression, that it brought me to tears on first listen. “I am, in my soul, a woman” Jasmine declares, the choir surrounding her breaking voice. If, somehow, that isn’t enough of a tearjerker for you, then you can search out the YouTube video where the track was initially unveiled, featuring Jasmine taking her first dose of estrogen.
At times devastating, but ultimately uplifting, You Are The Morning is a truely touching piece of work, giving a glimpse into jasmine.4.t’s growth from a fragile seedling into a blooming flower that basks in the morning light.
You Are The Morning is out January 14th on Saddest Factory Records.
