FFO: Jenny Dean – In The Ruins

Sunderland-based artist Jenny Dean celebrates the release of her debut EP In The Ruins (out Friday 10th October) with a launch show at Independent, Sunderland on Saturday 11th October, joined by local favourites Lottie Willis and CP Thompson. Recorded at The Bunker with producer Phil Jackson, the six-track EP showcases Dean’s dynamic vocal range across a mix of punchy alt-pop and emotive ballads, blending pop-punk energy with atmospheric strings and piano. With two singles already out—Factory Reset and IDK—the full release offers a varied yet cohesive set, shaped by Dean’s signature lyrical style.

Here, Jenny sums up the sounds of the new EP using three songs…

Spite – Charlotte Sands

I had been listening to this song a lot around the time I wrote IDK and it really stood out to me thematically as I related a lot to the lyrics at the time about disliking someone and wanting them out of your life. I played it for Phil when we were in the studio recording IDK and we decided to take inspiration and add an electronic drum kit to the track to give it a more alt-pop sound. We added so many guitar tracks and gave it quite a gritty, punchy tone, and it ended up being one of our favourites off the EP. 

A House in Nebraska – Ethel Cain

Ethel Cain’s music is so interesting to me and my song Confession has a lot of elements inspired by her musical style. When we were making the song I said I didn’t care about making it fit into a certain time/length and to just keep going with it as long as it felt natural to. We ended up with a track a little over four minutes which is the longest on the EP, and lyrically its quite uncomplicated but it builds on itself, from being a simple piano tune at the start, to a whole orchestra of strings and layers and choral style vocals.

Maria – Blondie

Blondie is a bit of an overarching influence in general but it’s most noticeable in Factory Reset and IDK, the guitars in particular are both intentionally and unintentionally inspired by Maria. We didn’t notice the similarity at first but when we were halfway through recording Phil was like ‘hang on…’, and we ended up leaning into it because it sounded good. We’ve leaned into it even more by adding Maria in as a cover a couple of times when we’ve been gigging, and it’s ended up being one of my most listened to songs this year.