With Fortune Cookie, Jangus Kangus, the electrifying project of Jasmine Sankaran, serves up a deliciously jagged slice of garage-surf gold, wrapped in wit, grit, and emotional precision. This debut wide-scale LP isn’t just a record, it’s a declaration: raw, fearless, and wildly imaginative.
From the opening tracks, Sankaran lays bare her lyrical finesse and self-deprecating charm, morphing from antihero to icon in a blink. Her songwriting is unflinchingly personal, yet universally relatable, think The Clash’s edge with Courtney Barnett’s introspection, all laced with the sunny melancholy of West Coast indie.
Recorded at Moosecat Recording, Fortune Cookie balances lo-fi intimacy with ambitious sonic layering. Each of the eight tracks feels handcrafted, from the country-tinged ache of ‘You Only Love Me When’ to the vibrant desert stomp of ‘Janakita’. The band Steph Anderson (keys), Antonio White (guitar), Dan Perdomo (drums), and Ryan Kellis (bass) matches Sankaran’s emotional range with textured, punchy dynamics.
Producer Mike Post brings coherence to the chaos, framing Sankaran’s cryptic, vulnerable lyrics in arrangements that shimmer and bite. Highlights like the kaleidoscopic ‘Goldilocks’ and the swaggering ‘High Rise’ showcase a band unafraid to blend genres and twist expectations.
What makes Fortune Cookie stick isn’t just the musicianship; it’s the soul. Sankaran’s voice, both literal and lyrical, commands attention. There’s heartbreak here, sure. But also defiance. Humor. Power.
It’s a debut that feels both underground and universal and marks Jangus Kangus as a force ready to rewrite the rules of indie rock, one audacious chorus at a time.
