A big, messy job that has to happen happens in “Murder at the 18th St. Garage.”

Track: “Murder at the 18th St. Garage”
Album: Jenny From Thebes

I don’t know that there’s another way to say this: Jenny kills someone in “Murder at the 18th St. Garage.” You know this, from the title, but it’s still a shock. Jenny’s a thief and an outsider, but we don’t necessarily view her as a murderer. But tough times require tough reactions.

The narrative of Jenny From Thebes is somewhat of a straight line, but I don’t think there’s one true, simple narrative to grab out of it. You just have to mostly infer what happens and why it happens, though the theme of who Jenny is and what she needs is clear. The liner note of “behold, you may not rezone my house” calls to mind a weird Stephen King book I won’t even fully reference here, but tells us this is definitely Jenny’s reaction and that, if we’re on her side, it was an appropriate one.

This is an explosion and a jam and I love it. As we near the end here, I feel like I don’t always need to find a new way to ask you to put your car windows down and to speed into a turn as you listen to this one.