With a fistful of highly praised releases underneath his belt and a soulful, jazz and hip-hop pushed sound, the 25 year old multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and manufacturer Jordan Rakei has extraordinary talent. Born in a quiet town in New Zealand, Jordan moved to Australia at the age of three, spending most of his childhood in Brisbane. We managed to catch him to talk about changing his direction of sound from his first album ‘Cloak’.

Q 1: Hiya Jordan! How are things in your world at the moment?

Really good. Just finished a European tour and still buzzing from it. Spending the next few weeks enjoying some time off before we head on tour to Australia!

jr


Q 2: So you released your second album ‘Wallflower’ in September – I bet you’re so happy with it. Why did you decide to change direction of sound from your first debut album ‘Cloak’?

I guess I’m always up for developing my sound and pushing my own sonic boundaries. New sounds always excite me! I spent a lot of sessions with my drummer, Jim Macrae, experimenting with a lot of synths and different ways of arranging instruments.


Q 3: For ‘Wallflower’, you wrote all of the tracks on guitar and piano, and then produced them which you’ve never done before. How come you decided to go down that route to put the album together?

I wanted to focus solely on the lyrics. When a song stands by itself acoustically it can carry a lot more weight and usually has a longer life with a consumer. People usually get attracted to instrumental, but then to remain long listeners the lyrics have to have some substance.


Q 4: Do you have a favourite track of your own on the album at all?

My favourite track is probably Hiding Place or Wallflower. A tough choice, but both of these songs resonate with me the most.


Q 5: What are you plans for the 2018? I can’t wait to hear some more new material!

I’m working on some more stuff. I feel like I’m always working on stuff in a studio! Haha. New music to come with many more shows around the world!


Facebook: @JordanRakei  | Twitter: @jordanrakei