Jasmine.4.t’s “Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation”: A Haunting Anthem of Survival and Hope
Manchester-based singer-songwriter and trans artist jasmine.4.t today releases her highly anticipated debut album, You Are The Morning, via Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records. Marking a milestone as the label’s first UK signee, Jasmine pairs her deeply personal songwriting with sonic experimentation that has captivated audiences. Accompanying the album’s release is the new music video for the single “Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation,” a track that delves into raw, unflinching moments of trauma and survival. The single follows the release of previous standout tracks, including the shimmering title track “You Are The Morning,” the evocative “Elephant,” and the tenderly introspective “Skin on Skin.”
“Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation” emerges as a centerpiece of Jasmine’s narrative artistry, drawing on a profoundly dark chapter in her life. Reflecting on the song’s origin, Jasmine shared:
“A few years ago, I was sleeping on my best friend Han’s living room floor in Manchester for a few nights. I had come out as trans to my closest people back home in Bristol, my life had fallen apart, my marriage had ended terribly, and I had nowhere to stay. I was struggling with extreme PTSD symptoms and making plans to kill myself. I remember being in Han’s bathtub, crying in the dark and her making me promise not to go through with it. The hallucinations were terrifying. I kept seeing my dead body face-down in a pool of blood on the painted yellow kitchen floor of my home in Bristol. I had a persistent delusion that I had died there and was living some kind of hellish afterlife. Sometimes I would look down and see my own body as a rotting corpse or skeleton. I remember seeing myself and my beloved late uncle (who left me his guitar after he died by suicide) both in miniature, screaming and trapped inside my own ribcage.”
The imagery that inspired the song doesn’t stop there. Jasmine’s visceral storytelling extends to a specific moment that crystallized the title:
“Guy Fawkes night was the worst. The stress of the explosions had left my body a wreck, and I thought I was dying of fright. Han took me for a walk so I could see the fireworks — if I could see them maybe the sounds wouldn’t be so terrifying. When we were outside the supermarket, someone let off some fireworks on the pavement. They failed to launch and exploded next to us in the road. I blacked out at that point and came to, back at Han’s, when I tripped over the doormat. Apparently, we had gone into the supermarket and bought some essentials. I had no memory of it, though when I pushed myself I had some images of fluorescent lights and Han comforting me.”
Jasmine further revealed that her journey to healing began with Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, which significantly reduced her symptoms over several months.
“I wrote Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation about the experience at the supermarket and my divorce that was in progress. The second verse imagines a me in a brighter future, looking back at myself. I demoed it with two guitar tracks and two vocal tracks on a four-track cassette recorder. I panned the tracks so that one guitar and vocal was on the left and one guitar and vocal was on the right. The vocal tracks sang alternate lines. This gave the impression of my voice going back and forth, left and right, mirroring the bilateral stimulation techniques of EMDR therapy.”
This deeply intimate storytelling is emblematic of Jasmine’s approach throughout You Are The Morning, weaving vulnerability into sonic innovation. With her debut album, Jasmine.4.t not only cements her place as an artist to watch but also as a courageous voice navigating the intersections of identity, trauma, and healing.
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