Jenny O.’s new album Spectra out today via Mama Bird Recording Co

Spectra is the fourth full-length album by Jenny O. It is a celebration of the universal, the organic- a manual straight from the soul on how to love practically and unconditionally, in all directions. Spectra is the staggering result of Jenny O.’s contemplation on connectivity, identity, and purpose.

The listener is transported to a warm and luminous innerworld thanks to the masterful production of Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, S.G. Goodman, Andrew Bird). The album opens with Jenny at the Hammond B3 organ on “Pleasure In Function.” The drums– performed by Josh Adams throughout Spectra – almost weep, tumble and leap with reverence, while Baroque clangs from a zither, juts of mellotron strings and choral call-and-response instigate pure psychedelia. “You Are Loved Eternally” is jangle heaven, disarming the uneasy children of the universe with a playful bop and a simple mantra. These are hymns straight from the Church of Rock n’ Roll. But Jenny O. writes outside of genre and Spectra contains multitudes. Technicolor slow jams like “Prism,” and “Golden” are stitched among new wave romps “Advice At A Dinner Party” and “The Big Cheese.” “There Is A Club,” a demented outsider’s anthem, is a rowdy a cappella jolt that drops right into “Solitary Girl,” a tough, fuzz strut with the murky mischief of the glam greats.

Spectra also gives us “The Natural World,” a futurist foray into climate awakening, repeating the phrase “I believe in love and curiosity, I am fascinated with the natural world.” Jenny calls this “a declaration of wonder and reverence for the living Earth. As we phase out fossil fuels, the way through the climate crisis is by regeneration of this planet’s incredible natural systems. The future requires us to consider everything and everyone; love and curiosity are key.”

Jenny O. played the guitar, bass, synthesizers and more on Spectra. She grew up on Long Island, New York, in a household that worshiped early rock n’ roll. She is a classically trained composer and double bassist who studied jazz and experimented with trip hop in the early 2000’s before making her way to California and back to rock n’ roll. She made two albums with Jonathan Wilson– Automechanic and Peace & Information, followed by New Truth and now Spectra– both with Kevin Ratterman. She has toured with legends like Sixto Rodriguez, Violent Femmes, Father John Misty, and Faye Webster, and performed vocals on recordings by Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Conor Oberst, and Jim James.