Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Jazzygold
Jazzygold’s luscious sounds have a tinge of implacable mystery to them. On the surface, they’re a sort of bedroom pop, R&B hybrid, but that safe combo is quirkily subverted with a hint of something unique. Perhaps that singularity comes from Jazzygold, hailing from the Faroe Islands. The fact that we recently spoke to fellow Faroese artist Dania O Tausen about her much more folk-inspired sound is testimony to the cornucopia of music the 52,000 people are producing amid their recent cultural bloom.
The real name of the artist behind Jazzygold is Jasmin Mote, and she was formerly in the band JASMIN. However, after five years in that mellowed electro-indie outfit, she has decided to travel in search of inspiration and reinvention. This birthed the new entity Jazzygold, and already tracks like ‘Dyed My Hair Red’ and the new single ‘Lonely Afterparties’ are attracting attention.
Her music is as eclectic as her own experiences, making for an expressive and alluring sound. With roots in Kenya, a wistful heart, a hungover head and an array of other elements all entering her work, it is a canvas that captivates. At times, it is almost bordering on hazy psychedelia, then it will revert back to modern soul, but throughout, her silken voice and idiosyncratic lyrics smooth the slaloms.
With new singles coming thick and fast, we caught up with the Faroese star for a quick ten minutes and gathered her thoughts on writer’s block, favourite pubs, dreams, Billie Eilish, and The Beatles. After all, what better way is there to get to know someone than quick-fire questions?
Quick-fire questions with Jazzygold:
1. What song would you want played at your funeral?
“‘I’m tired’ – Labrinth.”
2. Where is the weirdest place you’ve ever played a gig?
“I once played on a boat as a surprise for some politicians on the Faroe Islands, and the weird place was not the boat but everything around it. It was supposed to be a surprise, so we went out in a different boat than everyone else, so we were on two different boats. The people on the other boat just thought they were going for a trip, and then we ended up sailing towards them, and we played a full-on concert on the other boat while they listened on the other boat. It was very chaotic and weird but fun.”
3. What is the best music venue in the world?
“My favourite music scene that I’ve been to is probably ‘Vega’ in Copenhagen. The music venue is the perfect place to see some of your favourite artists before they get really, really big. It hits the sweet spot. I think the capacity is around 1500 people so it’s not too big and too small. I saw Billie Eilish there in 2019, right before she released her debut album, and after that release, she got so much attention and became internationally HUGE. I doubt I will ever get to go to a Billie Eilish concert again with 1,500 people.”
4. What is your favourite cover to play?
“I’ve played many different covers in my life, and actually, I started out playing concerts with only covers as a teenager. The one song that stuck with me and which I’ve been playing live up to today is ‘Something in the Way’ by Jorja Smith. I LOVE that song, and I feel like that’s one of those songs that I wish I had written.”
5. Who was your first musical hero?
“To be honest, I don’t have a memory of someone being my first musical hero… I think I just loved all kinds of music and got inspired off whatever I got inspired off. As a kid, I listened to everything that was playing on MTV in the 00’s. When I got a few years older, my musical hero was Justin Bieber, hahaha. I was a huge believer, and I stand by it. Today, I find new musical heroes all the time, there’s so much good music getting released, and I love it.”
6. Who would be your three dream festival headliners?
“Rosalia, Yebba and Kendrick Lamar.”
7. Where is the best pub in the world?
“I played The Great Escape last May with some friends, and while we were there, we discovered an alley where you could go further in, and there was this small cosy cocktail bar called Twisted Lemon. We were only going for a drink or two but ended up spending the whole night there getting tipsy on the best cocktails I’ve ever tasted, I still dream about them. So if you’re in Brighton, you should find this place, you won’t regret it.”
8. Can you recommend us an album we’ve probably never heard?
“I don’t know if you’ve heard this album or not, but one of my biggest musical inspirations is Emilie Nicolas. She’s a Norwegian artist, and the first album I heard from her was Tranquille Emile, which got released in 2018. The first time I heard it, I got so emotional; it was such a fresh breath of new music that I hadn’t heard before, and she got me in tears, so go listen! (Her album after that is also so, so beautiful).”
9. What movie scene makes you cry?
“Honestly, if I’m in my feels or maybe having a shitty day, every movie can make me cry. But the scene that comes to my head right now is in the series Euphoria. The scene where you think Rue dies and she goes to heaven, which is shown as a church and everyone she knows are sitting on the benches and while she walks in Labrinth sings this beautiful song: ’I’m tired’. At that point, the song hadn’t been released, so I was watching this scene for the first time and hearing this song for the first time and man, I bawled my eyes, I can’t listen to that song without getting very emotional.”
10. What is your go-to takeaway order?
“Hmmm I would probably have to say a poke bowl from the sushi place on the Faroe Islands called Etika. That shit hits hard, and I always order it with grilled salmon and without coriander.”
11. Which album have you probably listened to the most in your life?
“There are so many, but the one that comes to mind is probably Dawn by Yebba. I think it got almost unhealthy how much that album was on repeat at one point in my life. That album is so beautiful, and I always end up getting very much in touch with myself, and that’s also one of the records I can shout my lungs to. I love it.”
12. Tell us your most controversial cultural opinion?
“I have no idea… maybe that 2000’s music is the best music era. I don’t know if that’s controversial or just a fact.”
13. Have you ever had writer’s block? How did you overcome it, if so?
“Yes, for sure. It was the time before I figured out I wanted to start the project Jazzygold. It was the worst time of my life because it felt like I was building all of these emotions inside of me that I normally get out by writing about them and making music, and I just couldn’t, and I didn’t really know why. I think I was just in a weird place, not knowing what I wanted to do, and then I got accepted to a writing camp in Stockholm, which I almost cancelled because I thought I didn’t have the ability to write music anymore, and I was so anxious.
“But I went anyways, which I’m so, so grateful for. That trip changed everything, and I just made a lot of music that I loved, and I met new people and was in a new country, so I didn’t feel like was ‘stuck’ with what I knew. In some way, I just left everything that dragged me down at home, which was very important. So yeah, if you feel stuck or have writer’s block, then leave for a totally new setting, it helped me.”
14. Have you ever had a weird celebrity encounter?
“I have no weird celebrity encounters, but I wish!”
15. Are The Beatles overrated?
“Yes.”
