Air Cool Jenny is a duo formed over two years ago by Helen Rose and Kramer Sanguinetti. They met in New York City during a serendipitous evening of live music, which culminated in a spontaneous punk rendition of the Appalachian folk tune, “Shady Grove”. It was love at first sight and they haven’t looked back, moving to Sanguinetti’s hometown of New Orleans for a few years and most recently, settling outside of Los Angeles, CA, where Rose was raised.
Helen Rose is a mulit-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter who also has a solo career. She released and EP, Just Before It Gets Dark (2018) and a full-length album, Trouble Holding Back (2018) which was produced by Marvin Etzioni (Lone Justice) and engineered by Jeff Peters (The Beach Boys) and Sheldon Gomberg (Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite). In 2020 she was chosen as an Official Showcase Artist by Folk Alliance International, who described her as “a powerhouse of fresh sound-intimate and turbulent all at once.” She has a single/video releasing for her song, “Love and Life” in July on the Regional Records label.
Kramer Sanguinetti is also a multi-instrumentalist and a singer-songwriter who studied classical guitar in high school and studied jazz guitar at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, under the guidance of the legendary Joe Chambers and Steve Bailey. He then cut his chops as a show band guitarist for Princess Cruises, which required proficiency in multiple musical genres. It was then that he began writing original pieces and expanding his creative spirit. He taught himself to play pedal-steel in 2019, and he was able to lay down some steel tracks on this record.
Both are great performers with diverse musicianship, heartfelt vocals and unique harmonies. Inspired by Appalachian folk, blues, country jazz, and funk, Air-Cool Jenny has an extraordinary sound of its own. The duo used this past year for writing, recording, live-streaming and filming videos in preparation for their EP release. “It has been a time of creative incubation and opportunity for content building and deep meditative focus on the future,” states Sanguinetti. Of note: The couple is currently composing the soundtrack to a docu-series about former NFL players and other professional American athletes who have been recruited by the US Rugby Association.
First Flight is their first EP as Air-Cool Jenny. It was recorded and engineered by Kirkland Middleton at Piety Studios at Nina Highway in Beaux Bridge, LA. It was also recorded, engineered and mixed by George Adrian at The Silo Studios in Shadow Hills, CA with mastering by Jeff Peters at Pasadena, CA’s Pie Studios.
Middleton, who is a drummer for The Lost Bayou Ramblers also plays drums on the EP, and brought in band mate, Bryan Webre on bass and Brenden Moore on organ. “The Cajun-influenced rhythms they brought out in the songs really elevated and spoke to the soul of the songs in a way we could not imagine anyone else playing,” said Sanguinetti. “It was a perfect match for what the tunes were asking for.”
“Everything we write about comes from an organic experience. We take all the ingredients of our two lives from the geography of where we live, family, and all the genres that inspire us and synthesize them in an organic way because that’s the only way we know how to,” Sanguinetti observes.
“Rivers Gone” is taken directly from their shared experience of going through some of the worst storm years the south has seen ever, while at the same time falling in love with New Orleans and growing roots within the community. “Pelican was inspired by a special spot they used to frequent along the Holy Cross levee on the Mississippi River. “The vocal harmonies were really fun to figure out for this tune,” observed Rose. “When we hit the high part together we are both singing upper extension of the chord and that’s what gives it the color and feel that it has. We took the jazz and R&B method of upper harmony and made it our own.”
“When I Rise” is a good old fashioned love song about recognizing truly how someone makes you feel and the little things that make your realize that it’s the real thing. “Pissin on the Moon has a celebratory feel with a guitar solo inspired by the chicken pickin on some old Emmylou Harris tracks. “It was a Bota-Box and John Prine influenced tribute to some characters from both of our childhoods”, Rose acknowledges.
Between Sanguinetti’s musicianship and Rose’s experience in songwriting with the likes of professionals such as Marvin Etzioni and Jonah Tolchin, there is an incredible symbiosis that comes through in their songs. “Like a garden, it starts with the seed-the idea- then germinates into a melody and concept,” explains Rose. “And when you work with someone like Kramer, who has vast musical knowledge-the composition elements have no boundaries-the garden overflows with musical creativity.”
First Flight allows this couple to soar. We look forward to what they have in store for the future.
