Reid Jenkins

The all or nothing attitude is an impulse among humans. We latch onto false dichotomies to grasp the complexity around us — natural vs artificial, analog vs digital. On his debut EP, A Beautiful Start, Reid Jenkins diverges from this tendency and joyfully explores the medley of emotions and influences that make us who we are. Drawing from his instrumental background and guided by his fascination with sound design, Reid wrote, arranged, orchestrated, and co-produced all the songs, as well as performed many of the parts on the recording. Reid explains: “I like to use real sounds, because they have a certain resonance as ‘authentic.’ But I also like to contrast these sounds with stuff that is obviously inorganic.” So, for example, he might contrast real horns with a tuba sample or drums with percussion samples.

Born into a family of musicians on NYC’s UWS, Reid started playing the violin at 6 and at 15 he was studying jazz violin so by the time he started at Columbia University, he could effortlessly switch between classical, jazz, and fiddle playing. It’s a valuable skill that Reid drew upon when he formed Morningsiders with classmate Magnus Ferguson. The band became successful and after years of touring, they took a break from the road, during which Reid learned how to produce, play guitar, and focused on his solo work. The 4 songs that emerged from that exploratory time that comprise the EP form a snapshot of Reid’s internal dialogues as well as his polymath abilities.