"New Truth" by Jenny O
There is something irresistibly summery about Jenny O.’s latest album New Truth, but the album is also far more introspective than most of what comes to mind when I think of “summer music.” There’s a wisdom, both lyrically and musically, that sneaks up on you. Maybe that’s what makes it feel so perfect for this weirdest of summers. If O.’s airy vocal harmonies and (mostly) cheerful melodies sound like a sunny day, it’s a sunny day spent alone with your thoughts. The album is fun, but not oblivious. It’s a respite, but not an escape.
O. has a gift for finding balance: her music is bright yet serious, her lyrics treat everyday disappointments and desires with depth but without pretentiousness. Upbeat songs about unhappy topics, like the album opener, “God Knows Why,” which is about losing her hearing in one ear, come across as reconciled rather than discordant. She also manages sounding delightfully retro and contemporary at the same time. In my favorite song from New Truth, the extremely groovy “Psychedelic Love,” O. borrows from 60s folk-rock (and other genres), while lines like “Alpha-like, so I don’t crush him/ Alpha-like, but checks his privilege,” among others listing what she wants in a partner, place it unmistakably in the current era.
New Truth was set to be released in June, but ended up being pushed back to August 9th amidst the protests, with a post on O.’s Instagram explaining that “When I do release New Truth, I need to give it my sustained attention... and that push would presently be in conflict with my principles, the wellbeing of traumatized friends and how I’m spending my days right now.” This sentiment is echoed in “Seek Peace,” the final track on the album: “Am I doing enough for the tragedy I see?” The line feels at once rooted in this specific moment and yet distressingly timeless.
It’s easy to look at nearly any piece of art now and find in it some new, profound relevance for COVID times, maybe even wonder if there was something clairvoyant in its creation. While there are certainly songs on New Truth that take on new meaning now—one called “I Don’t Want to Live Alone Anymore” is the most obvious example, as well as the album title itself— it remains clear that the sense of loneliness and search for connection that is a theme across the album is not the newer isolation of shelter-in-place, but rather the everyday loneliness that has always existed, and always will—which means we can keep relating, and dancing, to the songs on New Truth for years to come.
– Zoe Neuschatz