Pisgah is the solo project of Brittney Jenkins, a singer/songwriter who grew up in the American South but now calls London her home. Having released her debut album Call Louder For Me When You Call back in 2022, she let things simmer for a while, biding her time. Now, however, she’s back with Cumulonimbus - a single that I assure you is well worth the pause.

Since falling in love with Brittney's latest tune, I couldn't shake the feeling that she was an artist with an interesting story to tell. Thankfully, she was more than willing to open up.

Chatting with us about singing in her Baptist church as a young woman, some of the musicians who have shaped sound and style, and how she navigates the balance between staying true to her artistic vision and adapting to changing trends in the music industry, please welcome our new friend Brittney Jenkins, AKA Pisgah.

Hi Brittney, I'm so excited to introduce you to our ever-growing audience! Thanks again for taking the time!

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, please tell us a little bit about your musical journey so far. I know you released your debut single back in 2021.

I did release my first single in 2021, so good recall there! Though the journey to actually releasing music has been long.

I've been doing musical things for as long as I can remember - I grew up in the American South and, like a lot of young women, started singing in the Baptist church my family attended; took piano lessons as a kid; started playing clarinet so I could eventually join the marching band in my high school (which I did).

By the time I got to university, most of my friends were musicians, and I was out at their gigs multiple nights a week, but still struggling to think of myself as a musician. The shift happened when I bought my first guitar on a whim when I turned 22 and started teaching myself how to play. I started writing songs a few years later, and those early songs eventually became my first album, Call Louder For Me When You Call, released in 2022.

I was so deep in trying to learn to make a record then that I didn't promote it very much by the time it came out, so I'm glad to be at a point that I'm ready to share more!

Now, let's move from your debut single to your brand new one! Cumulonimbus, as I've previously mentioned to you, is a ridiculously beautiful tune!

What does the song mean to you, and who do you hope it resonates with the most?

Thank you so much for the kind words about Cumulonimbus!

For me, it's a song about getting older and realising - actually more than realising - feeling the weight of all of your parents' traumas and past experiences in your own body.

I've always been fascinated by storms, and I think of cumulonimbus clouds as visual representations of accumulated experiences. We all have to carry the heaviness of our lineages in different ways - socially and politically as well as personally - so I hope anyone who listens to it can find something of their own experience in it.

I believe there's usually a great tale behind a name...How exactly did Pisgah come about?

So Pisgah is a Hebrew word that refers to a specific mountain called Mount Nebo, and "nebo" translates literally to "summit." Funny enough, though, that actually has nothing to do with why I chose it!

I grew up in North Carolina, and Pisgah comes from Pisgah National Forest, which is one of my favorite places in the entire world. I spent a lot of time there in my most formative years, and the freedom I experienced there really impacted who I am now.

Who would you put down as some of your biggest musical influences, and who would you ultimately credit for helping shape and form your overall sound?

So many that it's hard to boil it down into just a few, but the ones I feel like I have to mention:

Tori Amos - who taught me that singing songs about the worst things that happen to us can help us heal.

Modest Mouse - for blowing apart my idea of what music could sound like the first time I listened to The Lonesome Crowded West.

Brand New - who started in the emo genre and became something so much more, for giving language to so many of the conflicting feelings I had growing up in the Baptist Church that I couldn't express.

And Ryan Adams - also a fellow North Carolinian - for teaching me that music can transcend genre while still proudly showing its roots.

There are a million more, but we'll be here all day if I list them all!

When a new song starts to form, what’s your usual approach?

Can you talk us through how you develop that initial spark into a fully realised piece of music?

Every song forms differently - sometimes a melody comes that I sit with for months (or even years!) until words start to fall into place, and sometimes a lyric comes first and the song unveils from there.

With Cumulonimbus, both came simultaneously. I was playing the chord progression on repeat, and then the first few lines of the song came out fully formed. The rest of the lyrics came pretty quickly from there.

I know if I get a line stuck in my head that I'm on to something, and I couldn't shake "hollowed out escarpment glows light blue" because it's actually a pretty strange opening line.

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Without music, life would be a mistake.”

What would your life look like without music, and what fills your days when you’re not busy creating?

Shout out to Nietzsche, and I do think he was on to something!

When I'm not making music, I'm out in our garden tending to all of my plants and growing new things, watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (it's my favorite show of all time!), spending time with my tarot cards, and reading! I'm a pretty avid reader and have read 37 books this year already.

How do you navigate the delicate balance between staying true to your artistic vision and adapting to changing trends in the music industry?

Honestly, this is something I'm just starting to confront since I've only really started sharing my music. The beauty of being an independent artist who's not known is that right now I can make what I want, and I don't have to answer to anyone for it! Then again, the difficulty of being an independent artist is doing all my own marketing and promo (which I know is a can of worms for most of us!)

As someone who is introverted and needs a lot of quiet time, I'm trying to maintain the balance between growing my audience through promo, doing things in the real world like playing gigs, and carving out enough contemplative space for myself so I can write new songs. The latter is what it's all about, so that's most important to me.

Brittney, it's been an absolute pleasure having you here! Thanks again for taking the time to chat with us!

Your sophomore album, Faultlines, is scheduled for release on November 7th. Are there any tracks that might surprise listeners, and what’s the vibe you’re hoping fans walk away with after listening?

One of my personal favorites is a song called Splintering, and I think it will surprise anyone who's listened to my music because it has something of an industrial meets grunge rock sound! I'm really proud of how it turned out because it sounds different from anything else I've released so far!

And…from the album as a whole? It's about coming to terms with all the various fractures and frictions that we don't ask for but become ours to navigate, and I hope it helps anyone who listens process the fractures and frictions in their life.

Follow Pisgah on Instagram

Pisgah: “The beauty of being an independent artist who's not known is that right now I can make what I want, and I don't have to answer to anyone for it”

Daze of Laur: “When I write music, I'm going into a place that's deeply personal, trying to channel directly from my soul and heart, without worrying about who's going to receive it”