Local Review: Rachael Jenkins — The End

Rachael Jenkins
The End
Street: 03.26.2025
Rachael Jenkins = Angel Olsen + Julien Baker

Rachael Jenkins’ new EP The End is about living with depression and the weight of anxiety that crushes down. It’s also about the disguises, veils and walls put up to smoke and mirror the reality of always standing in the dark fog of lonely places.

The sparse, scratchy and beautiful echo that Jenkins creates with her guitar helps to coddle and protect the gorgeous, honest sadness in her voice that she injects into every track on this EP.

“I don’t like who I am online / especially when I’m high,” Jenkins sings on the haunting track “I Don’t Know,” over a simple piano. “But it’s probably nothing, I’m fine / Took my jacket off, now I can breath in the night.” Jenkins inner monologue is a bird singing in cage. “I don’t know what I’m doing / I don’t know what I’m talking about / I’m not sure if I like it here / Or how long I’ve been walking around.”

On the track “Untitled,” Rachael Jenkins confronts her Mormon upbringing. “Now I’m flying, windows down / Burning grass on the temple grounds / One foot out, shoot me down / Mourn my death on the news / Blame my mom and tattoos / And keep saving your spit for the drought.” This is a middle finger! This is Punk Rock! And Jenkins delivers it with a quiet guitar and a quivering voice, but the anger lingers just the same.

In the track “Allergy Season,” Jenkins sings about a past lover and the drag of springtime allergens. “I met you in the springtime / I was dying / In the meantime / You were pining over me / Allergy season / Had me wheezing over you / Now I’m bleeding / Out my nose and onto my shoes,” Jenkins sings with a tranquil intensity. “And I can’t pretend / I don’t linger on it / Every itch on my skin.”

“Do I keep secrets or do they keep me? / Will I be quiet for eternity” Jenkins sings on “Secrets.” The track is a gut-punch despite Jenkins delivering it like the fluttering wings of a nervous butterfly. “Send me out to space / Where everything is quiet / I’ll burst into flames / And I’ll like it / All the quiet.” Jenkins stands in her beauty like a flower in early spring that holds its ground in the cold days that linger, despite the change of season. —Russ Holsten

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