NEW YORK CITY BAROQUE POP ARTIST REID JENKINS SHARES SYNTH POP ODYSSEY “NORTH STAR”
July 14, 2023 BY Jason Currell
Today, Baroque-pop, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer Reid Jenkins is proud to announce his debut album Hall Of Gems out November 3rd. Accompanying the announcement comes “North Star,” an upbeat, pulsing, and dreamy synth-pop odyssey. The song showcases a divergence from Jenkins’ established style, highlighting his songwriting through this thematic structure. “North Star” is available on all streaming platforms here.
Jenkins explains: “Even without knowing where your North Star is, you can still let your imagination fling you into the outer reaches of deep space. Or maybe, as the song suggests, your search might get you halfway to Andromeda, and your North Star is the liberating act of motion itself. Aesthetically, I wanted to lean into a retro-futuristic kitsch for this track. Think The Magic School Bus, glow-in-the-dark star decals, school field trips to the Planetarium, Ziggy Stardust, Carl Sagan voice-overs. The result is something equal parts goofy and perfectly sincere,” shares Reid.
WATCH (AND SHARE) “NORTH STAR”:
ABOUT REID JENKINS:
After immersing himself in the American folk scene and mastering the fiddle in his youth, Reid Jenkins embraced his own voice and formed the indie rock outfit Morningsiders with band co-founders Magnus Ferguson and Robert Frech while attending Columbia University. As the band has continued to follow their arrow, however, Jenkins increasingly felt a passion to make music on his own as well.
After working closely with mixer-engineer and producer Sahil Ansari in early 2022, Reid wrote, arranged, orchestrated, what would be known as Hall Of Gems. It’s a striking and stunning statement of intent from the rising singer-songwriter. At once recalling Sufjan Stevens’ intimate storytelling and the ornate instrumentation of Andrew Bird, Hall of Gems is intricate songwriting at its best, but with all the glorious messiness that comes from being human. Jenkins is tackling heavy and universal themes—aimlessness, malaise, and the general sense that your direction in life might be yet undecided.
Hall of Gems zeroes in on that feeling of gear-grinding drift—a record that’s about, in Jenkins’ words, “Feeling stuck and unable to find a grip while spinning my wheels and feeling like a dilettante. Nothing was holding me back but me, but I was a pretty big obstacle.” Nonetheless, Jenkins undoubtedly persevered, expanding his own self-production knowledge and incorporating electronic elements to his music.
Reid Jenkins’ debut album Hall of Gems is due out November 3rd via Nettwerk.
