Review Summary: The healing power of community
And I understand / That I am in my soul a woman
These final words of
You Are The Morning tell the story. This isn’t just a narrative of the issues of jasmine.4.t’s endeavors; it’s a story of finding identity and healing in community. While the tracks share the personal struggles of homelessness, harassment, and emotional pain, there’s beauty found within the cracks. With every complication, there is a brighter triumph around the corner. On jasmine.4.t’s first full-length effort, Jasmine Cruickshank and her supporting cast detail the harsh reality of coming out, yet show the hope and power found in community in the midst of the hurt.
You were showing me / Divinity / What we are / In camaraderie
You Are The Morning’s instrumentation is just as beautiful and powerful as the story it conveys. Emotion saturates each song as Cruickshank’s airy vocals float across a variety of acoustic strumming, soft piano melodies, and punchy indie rock. In the softer moments, “Kitchen” and “Highfield” are stripped down to their acoustic frameworks, letting her voice carry the weight of her story. “New Shoes” and “Woman” are full of blissful atmospheres that fill every bit of space, the former featuring a clash of acoustic and distorted guitars in the climax that hits hard. On the other hand,
You Are The Morning balances its softer side with a more energetic side that exudes just as much personality as its stripped-down counterpart. “Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation” and “Tall Girl” invigorate the record with a more indie rock-driven style, the former featuring vocals from Phoebe Bridgers with her influence felt across the song. Moreover, singles “Skin on Skin” and “Elephant” showcase some of the most anthemic writing on the album, with both soaring to massive sounding climaxes.
I wish the whole world were Highfield, I wish it stretched right to my door
Yet the instrumentation is just one way to feel the emotion of
You Are The Morning. There is so much to discover within Cruickshank’s deeply personal lyrics. “Highfield” shares the pain of hearing harassment and slurs thrown her way just from walking outside and how she wishes the safety of Highfield could be felt everywhere. The reality of moving from house to house to find places to stay following her transition and divorce are detailed throughout “Kitchen” and “Best Friend’s House,” trying to seek stability after everything seemed to fall apart. She even reveals the mental horrors of “Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation” and shares the complications of PTSD symptoms she experienced staying with her friend. “Woman,” the first song she wrote following coming out to her ex-spouse, shines a light on the devastation, yet feeling confident in the way she felt about who she was.
You’re the earth, you’re the sun on my skin / You’re just what I want and that’s just what you want
But the hope speaks louder than the pain. The title track symbolizes triumph in finding solidarity in friends that built her back up. “Skin on Skin” gives insight into the feeling of falling in love for the first time after transitioning, and the joy she felt in feeling truly understood. “Roan” and “Breaking in Reverse” share the same sentiment as “Skin on Skin,” showing the pure emotion of how it felt to be understood in a community that truly grasped who she was and what she was going through. As the only pre-transition song making the cut, “New Shoes” finds a new meaning in context, with the “family” mentioned no longer being something merely blood-related, but rather the family she chose that gave her the community she needed in her moments of healing.
There I am safe / Even if they are away / Even if they aren’t awake
I could go on for hours about the beauty within the story of
You Are The Morning, but the record truly speaks for itself. From the luscious instrumentation to the heart-on-sleeve lyrics, jasmine.4.t’s first full-length shares a message that needs to be heard: a message of hope found within community.
You Are The Morning is nothing short of raw and emotional, and that’s what makes it so powerful. No matter who you are or what you are going through, there is a community there to build you up and heal you.
Let’s make a family / With family priorities