“The songs themselves are a study of proximity, bringing big fears into small spaces,” explains Canadian poet and songwriter Jenny Berkel of her latest record, These Are the Sounds Left from Leaving. “They’re intimate examinations of a world that often overwhelms.” Coming this May on Outside Music, the album is an embodiment of the world in which it was created. A time which saw self-imposed stillness juxtaposed against the intensification of a long simmering dread. The sense of the world coming apart at the seams. “I wanted the songs to feel like living creations that capture a living moment,” Berkel continues. “I wanted that theme of big fears in small spaces to be heard and felt as a coexistence of intimacy and menacing permeability.”
This seemingly contradictory mood is apparent in new single, ‘You Think You’re Like the Rain’. An address to a friend experiencing a difficult period, the song’s poetic lyricism and distinctively melodic folk style offer an introspective air, though in pushing into these small spaces Jenny Berkel reveals the true depth within the human interior. What emerges is a communication intimate in tone but fully appreciative of the vastness within a person. An acknowledgement of all that is unknowable.
The track comes complete with a video, produced by Phyllis Rising Productions and directed by Meg Hubley, which utilizes the expansive Nova Scotian coastline to evokes these interior spaces. Check it out below:
These Are the Sounds Left from Leaving is out on the 13th May via Outside Music you can pre-order it now from the Jenny Berkel Bandcamp page.
