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Provided by the compucert Jordan Reyne is, in the true meaning of the phrase, contrary to popular belief. It’s not just a redhead thing; it’s the day-to-day life of this singular musician. Already with 5 albums to her credit, Reyne is a pioneer on new sonic turf. With a sound that has been described as the soundtrack to steampunk, her blend of industrial-tinged dark folk is a meeting of genres best imagined as a cross between Dead Can Dance, Nine Inch Nails, and Alanis Morisette. Her unusual approach to music pairs the rhythms of steam-based technology and machinery with folk instruments and vocal styles, crossing technology with history to tell the dark stories of characters real and imagined. As evidenced by her 3 nominations for the “Tui” Music Award in her native New Zealand and her performance on the soundtrack of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, she is a serious artist who puts an immense amount of time and effort into her work, yet balances that effort with a playful and brash brava.
Her life in sound began much earlier than most, when she began singing and writing songs at age 3. “My Mum used to be woken up to me singing the theme tune to “Rainbow” at the top of my lungs. I also made up songs on long trips, which had no structure at all and would go on for hours. At age 8, when my parents could no longer bear my a capella rants, I started learning an instrument.” Yet, contrary again, instrument is not the most accurate term to describe the tools of the sound she creates. Reyne employs a genre-bending approach of recording the sounds of an industrial machine, like the engine room of a factory, and using that industrial thrum as the sonic core of a composition. Traditional instruments like guitars and vocals are then added, and the result is a song, yet not exactly a song, that harnesses the tension between woman and machine. Musically, it is the clash of folk and industrial. Philosophically, it is the crossing of history and progress.
Clearly, Reyne’s music does not fit easily into the genre headings found in most music stores and websites. Her passion for new ideas and new ways to express them musically often places her on the fringes of what people are used to. It’s from this vantage, though, that she can best bridge the gap between light and dark, and address subjects others shy away from. It’s from the fringe that she can most effectively recognize the quiet courage present in most people, even when they are overlooked by history and society.
This spirit marks her most recent album, How the Dead Live. How the Dead Live was commissioned by the New Zealand Arts Council, and tells the story of Susannah Hawes, one of New Zealand’s first pioneer women. In this concept record sharing a dialogue between Susannah and History and exploring the darker areas of New Zealand’s pioneer past, Jordan makes sharp commentary on culture which culminates in History’s annoyance with the lack of gore and grand narrative in Susannah’s story and its choice to forget her by throwing her name into the sea. As How the Dead Live is a historical piece, Jordan defined the sound of the record with industrial noises that would have existed at the time of Susannah’s life, like hammers and anvils, gold pans, and two-man saws, and visualizes how death is close to pioneers even in the simplest actions of life in a music video for the single “The Proximity of Death.”
On music, Jordan remarks “A song is like a chemical reaction between listener and performer, where both bring so much to the equation that the experience is different every time. The effect is more powerful than drugs and comes with zero hangover.” This clean high fuels her as she handles her own producing, engineering, songwriting, arranging, graphic design, and web design. A remarkable task list for a woman who claims she can’t multitask to save her life, but then again, it’s that paradox that fascinates. From literally knocking on record label doors until one of said yes to being hailed as pioneer in a new genre by New Zealand’s National Radio, Jordan Reyne has always been a winning collection of contrary ideas. She is humorous and nihilistic. She is sensitive and thoughtful, rapacious and caustic. The darkness in her music is beautiful, and the light is just as much so. Thus, she stands in the middle of all this, directing traffic, casting vision, interpreting culture, and bending sound into an experience that is truly extraordinary.
- Genre: Alternative, Folk, Celtic, Goth / Industrial
- Comparison: Bjork, Nine Inch Nails, PJ Harvey, Dead Can Dance, Sinead O Connor, Alanis Morissette
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