Described by fans as “Madonna meets Hey Arnold meets Michael Alig meets Grace Jones meets infinity,” Jennifer Vanilla is the persona-driven fantasy vessel LARPed into reality by performance artist Kye Grant (once a longtime member of NYC indie outfit Ava Luna). Born in a dewdrop high up in the sky in an idyllic realm known as “Jenniferia,” the sexless humanoid alien Jennifer Vanilla opened a portal to the eastern coast of the United States using a magical braid that became entangled with the earthling artist Kye Grant. Together, the two embarked upon a musical adventure that ignited the imaginations of countless humans. Jennifer became Grant’s everyperson, an archetypal mold for building connection with strangers. Today, in the early 21st century on the bustling streets of New York City, Jennifer Vanilla is a container, a portal, a joy delivery system, a self help regimen, a social mirror, a Times Square celebrity, a shark-toothed advertiser, a kicky talk show host and an ebullient mascot. Grant inhabited Jennifer and transformed through Jennifer, and vice versa. This conversation in fantasy has taken shape as their debut full-length album, Castle in the Sky, released on Sinderlyn Records. Collaboratively crafted by Grant and co-writer/co-producer Brian Abelson (who also releases music as See Other and other aliases on labels Lobster Theremin, Haus of Altr, Sorry Records and more), Castle in the Sky is a deft and mercurial “jennifreaky” journey, traversing 90s dance music, no wave, post-punk, art pop, new age and experimental R&B. “Consider this an invitation, I’ll be your guide,” Grant beckons on the album’s sauntering second track, which, like much of the album, is driven by Grant's nimble and virtuosic vocal delivery. Variously steely, theatrical, sensuous and authoritative, Grant’s vocals harken the sparkling precision of Ann Steel, the growling tenacity of Laurie Anderson and the wispy tenderness of Shelley Duvall in Faerie Tale Theatre. Jennifer Vanilla performances often are exercises in the transformation of reality through fantasy, testing the limits thereof, while the songs of Castle in the Sky are an artifact of that laboratory. Many of these songs took on numerous incarnations over the course of years before arriving at their album form, mutated in direct response to audience reaction. The fantasy was always open to interpretation: blurring the boundaries was the point. “We could each be enacting our own personal fantasy of what was going on throughout the show,” says Jennifer Bear, who would recite poetry during Jennifer Vanilla shows written by their real world counterpart Elsa Brown, a vocalist and lyricist on the album. Jennifer Vanilla has become a way for Grant to test drive their desires and curiosity, reflecting fantasy back through the mirror of an audience and seeing what sticks – even Grant’s artistic endeavors that exist outside of the Jenniferian realm, like a recent reenvisioning of a neighborhood intersection as part of their MFA work in Art and Social Practice, are still informed by the Jennifer Vanilla toolkit. At this point, the line where Grant ends and Jennifer begins is up for debate, and that ambiguity is central to the JV project: Jennifer Vanilla functions as a funhouse mirror that implores each of us to examine all the distortions in our reflections.