Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
EP.05 Jasmine Myra
60 Plays1 month ago
Pete is joined by Gondwana Records saxophonist & composer Jasmine Myra to talk about her creative process and musical journey, from early days in Leeds to working with label boss and trumpeter Matthew Halsall in crafting her sound...
Recommended
Transcript
Pete's Summer Highlights with Ishmael Ensemble
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everyone, been a while. um Pete here from Ishmael Ensemble, back with another episode of Catching Light. And yeah, sorry it's taken a few weeks to to get back on the podcast thing.
00:00:14
Speaker
um Summer was busy in the end. We did load of festivals and then ended the season with an amazing show alongside the Rituals Orchestra, which...
00:00:28
Speaker
It's something we've kind of put together, um yeah, with strings and a harp and loads of guest vocalists. guess we're getting to a point as a band where all of a sudden we've got quite a large catalogue and quite a dynamic range ah of music that
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah, feels like a great achievement, but also an opportunity to to share that in a new and interesting way. So, um yeah, the Rituals Orchestra is exactly that. We we debuted it at Forwards Festival in Bristol to kind of bookend the summer, which...
00:01:08
Speaker
Yeah, it just felt really, really special and kind of energised me and the rest of the guys to just crack on and write more music and yeah, keep creating I guess.
00:01:24
Speaker
And with that in mind, we thought... we do a special one-off show next year in London with that same setup. Um, so you can catch Ishmael Ensemble and the rituals orchestra at earth Hackney, a beautiful art deco theater in East London. And yeah, we're going to bring the whole gang along. So, um, we did some presale tickets, which kind of sold out immediately. So I imagine tickets won't hang around.
00:01:53
Speaker
You can find them on our website, on our socials. Um, Yeah, 9th of May next year. It's going to be special.
Introduction to Jasmine Myra
00:02:02
Speaker
Anyway, back to this.
00:02:04
Speaker
I'm delighted to say ah this week's guest is the brilliant saxophonist and composer Jasmine Myra. Originally from Leeds, now based in London.
00:02:17
Speaker
Jasmine's someone who I guess I first came across couple of years ago having seen her performances which Gondwana Records put out and yeah was just kind of captivated by her playing and her arrangements.
00:02:34
Speaker
um You know a very sort of Gondwana Records artist I guess. If you don't know the label it's ran by Matthew Horsall from out of Manchester. Kind of like spiritual leaning jazz for fans of Alice Coltrane.
00:02:52
Speaker
a Love Supreme era, kind John Coltrane. Yeah, very much that that world. But done sincerely, you know, it's it's really, really beautiful emotional stuff. um She's got two albums out, Horizons, which came out in 2022, and Rising, which came out last year.
00:03:11
Speaker
And we kind of, yeah, really hit it off, actually. We kind of went deep into the writing process, into her journey, and seems to be a recurring theme but I sort talked to these band leaders and it's become like sort of a therapy session I guess for us all to kind of work out what the hell we're doing and how the hell to do it so yeah it was really nice just kind of sharing stories of that emotional roller coaster of kind of fronting a band and feeling responsible for others and
00:03:44
Speaker
yeah the whole trial and tribulations are touring and all of that but whatever happens i always seem to come back to the same sort of sentiment with all these artists that yeah tell your teenage self that you're getting to play in this beautiful theater and share your music with a captivated audience um you wouldn't change it for the world right so also a lot of gratitude and feeling very lucky Anyway, I've been chatting a bit too much now, so why don't we just get stuck in?
Jasmine's Move to London and Lifestyle Challenges
00:04:15
Speaker
This is Catching Light Episode 5 with very special guest, Jasmine Myra. Enjoy!
00:04:41
Speaker
you
00:04:56
Speaker
Hey everyone, um this is Pete from Ishmael Ensemble and delighted today to be joined by saxophonist, composer and band leader, Jasmine Myra. Hey Jasmine, how are you doing? Hi, I'm good, thank you. How are you?
00:05:13
Speaker
Yeah, very well. um We're just saying that it feels like. summer's come back, we got a taste of it and then it got a bit bleak, so I'm very grateful for some sun.
00:05:24
Speaker
I just want consistency. That's all I can ask for from the British weather at the moment. I want to know whether I need a coat or not, or an umbrella, because I keep getting caught off guard.
00:05:39
Speaker
We're living in the wrong country, aren't we? It's true. Whereabouts are you? Because ah you've moved to London, is that right? Yeah. and So I live in South East London.
00:05:50
Speaker
um I've been here for like nearly three years now, which is kind of crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Time is just like flying by. But it's great. I really, i really like London. I mean, it's chaotic.
00:06:07
Speaker
Compared to Leeds where I grew up and and lived my entire life before I moved down here, I think Leeds is very easy to just exist. and And it's like cheap and it's a lovely little community where you just like exist in a little bubble.
00:06:23
Speaker
And so like when I came down to London... it's just so much more extreme like even just paying rent and existing is like really stressful sometimes but it's worth it like it is amazing being down here um there's so much cool stuff happening and like there's always somewhere new to go and experience so like it is great yeah yeah yeah i feel that i feel yeah maybe bristol's a bit of a kindred city in that that um you know you can accidentally spend years here just sort of bumbling about and you know everyone and it's kind of a village vibe and yeah yeah London is definitely ah different beast yeah how how do you manage that because obviously you're kind of busy gigging and stuff but um was it you kind of doing teaching and stuff on the side or or what what do you do to to make ends meet in London
00:07:22
Speaker
I used to do teaching when I was in Leeds and I really enjoyed it. um But when I moved to London, I decided that I didn't want to do that anymore. It it always sounds, it feels so funny kind of admitting it because it's like breaking down that presumption that if you're like an artist,
00:07:40
Speaker
that that's all you're doing. and But I think like realistically existing in London, it takes a long time. And sometimes you just never even reach that point where you're able to survive purely off your music.
00:07:55
Speaker
It's getting there slowly, and but it's definitely more of graft, just trying to earn enough money here, especially because i rent is constantly going up and stuff.
00:08:08
Speaker
um I think if I was still in Leeds it would be much easier. and i mean, my this was like three years ago but my rent was literally like a third of what I'm paying now in Leeds so it was kind of easy to just do the odd gig and do the odd...
00:08:25
Speaker
a bit of and kind of make ends meet. Not that I'm complaining necessarily. I mean, like living in London is a choice and I really enjoy it yeah so I don't want to just stay come on your podcast and moan.
Perception of Musicians and Side Hustles
00:08:42
Speaker
about my life yeah ah so but yeah I mean is it's slowly it's slowly getting there ah with my own music yeah yeah yeah totally I know I know exactly how you feel and I think yeah there is that funny thing um of yeah there being a bit of a stigma I guess around oh well you're not doing it properly and I think that's quite a British thing i remember ah spent some time in Canada and that really kind of flipped my perspective of yeah because I was sort of playing in a ski resort kind of apres ski bands and stuff like that was so much fun but like you know it's kind in my early 20s and but always having to work in restaurants or or whatever on the side and over there you know you'd say oh well you know I kind of you know work in this bar but i play a bit of music as well and they'd be like hey man you're a musician that's like yeah that's what you are you know say it proudly and then like
00:09:38
Speaker
Yeah, coming back with that mindset of like, you know, you kind of have that, there's ah there's a weird British thing, isn't there, of like, oh, well, you're not a real musician, you know, yeah you work in a pub, come on, mate. Yeah, it's like we're punished by the government.
00:09:55
Speaker
yeah like for choosing a career in the arts and then also we have to prove ourselves somewhere like people don't believe that we're really ah artists until we're doing it full time yeah interestingly i was having this conversation with one of my friends recently he was in new york and he was saying a similar thing ah where he was chatting to some of the musicians and yeah it's just a given that you'll be freelance and you'll also work in a coffee shop or do waitering or waitressing or like it's not no one expects that you're able to earn enough money from music without having a side hustle um yeah yeah yeah why is it yeah why isn't it that way over here because it's exactly the same situation
00:10:44
Speaker
I like to tell myself that they they may be jealous or they'd really love to be playing music. But yeah. Yeah. yeah Yeah. It's a weird thing. And then the other thing is like, yeah, I guess, I don't know, trying to, just trying to maintain it is hard. You know, there there is a reality of it. It is a struggle. you kind of, I don't know if you've ever felt a sort almost like ah a guilt of like, you know, kind of saying, oh, this is what I do, you know, because it's, I don't know, so it's a weird, weird emotional rollercoaster running a band and doing
Touring Realities with a Large Band
00:11:20
Speaker
all that. And yeah, kind of maintaining, um yeah, a sense of achievement yourself, I guess, because, you know, when it's so easy to dwell on all the the touring and stuff. And I don't know about you, I've found the last year
00:11:38
Speaker
You know, weirdly kind of bigger shows, bigger audiences, but it's just become harder and harder to make it work. And there's kind of a band leader that often that falls on yourself to to fill in the gaps, as it were. um because you Yeah, you've been busy, right, um touring this last record. And do you feel you sometimes have to make sacrifices, whether that's the size of the ensemble you play with or, you know, the way you approach a show?
00:12:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, yeah it is difficult. And i kind of went into my project knowing that it was going to be difficult because I made the decision to have an eight piece band or a seven piece band.
00:12:23
Speaker
And i was I was very aware, like people told me, are you sure you want to do this? like You also have a harp, that's crazy expensive ah to hire. you know Every time if we gig in Europe and and stuff and not all promoters are going want to work with you, you're going to lose money.
00:12:40
Speaker
um And i think, I mean, i'm still very much at the start of my career. Oh, that's how I'm viewing it. I'm still like learning a lot and kind of experiencing these things for the first time. And and so I kind of, and it shouldn't be this way, but the way I'm viewing it is I'm kind of making sacrifices for the future. So every time I choose to do a gig and lose money on it, it's kind of it feels like an investment
00:13:12
Speaker
Even though it shouldn't be that way, I've made the decision because I want ah an eight-piece band. I want it to be the full thing when I when i gig live. i I didn't want to sacrifice the music and just the way that I write, I felt like it really needed every instrument there.
00:13:31
Speaker
and and I couldn't really see a way around it. ah And it was only this year actually I've started touring with a quartet and a quintet. um i kind of It felt like biting the bullet a little bit, but I was also interested to... I'd seen a few other artists perform with a ah stripped back.
00:13:54
Speaker
ah band and I actually felt like it still had the same energy and was still really engaging and and entertaining so it kind of inspired me to give it give it a go myself um and I think for the audience we've only done a couple of quartet gigs which is like with backing tracks and And the feedback was good, I think from the audience they still enjoyed it in the same way. It feels very strange for us to perform it. I think on stage, from our perspective, it it feels a little bit flatter than with the full band. and So I've been getting in my head a little bit about that because I don't want that to be how it comes across, but I actually think that's just...
00:14:37
Speaker
something that is purely through light performance and getting used to doing it differently. and But we did with it we did it with a quintet as well, ah with no backing tracks, just slightly slightly stripped back.
00:14:50
Speaker
i And I was really pleasantly surprised with how that worked, because it kind of just gave the tunes a new lease of life in a way, or it created a different performance of them in a different energy where they were more stripped back and because it's all the same band members in the quintet that normally plays with the full band we all know the music so well now that we can kind of experiment and branch out a little bit and it felt really it was very freeing actually to just have a bit more space
00:15:32
Speaker
Thank you.
Early Career and Community Support in Leeds
00:15:49
Speaker
It seems like Leeds is a really formative place for you. And um yeah, was was there a kind of moment where you you felt you found the people you knew you wanted to work with? Or yeah, just just give us an insight into those those early days, as it were. in and Well, most, ah so I know everyone in my banned from Leeds apart from my harpist Alice who's Manchester based and I met her after lockdown when I started working with Gondwana because she plays for Matthew Hulsall who runs Gondwana so he
00:16:27
Speaker
I'd written a couple of tunes for harp and I worked with a few different harpists initially and then he ah suggested that I start working with her. um Because she's just really brilliant and she can she's comfortable with improv and stuff.
00:16:45
Speaker
and But everyone else met, they were all in the year above me at uni. um and I was playing in a few different bands with them.
00:16:57
Speaker
a The line-up has changed slightly over the years. When I first set ah um it it was at the start of third year because I wanted band for my final recital and I wanted to and write all my own music for it.
00:17:15
Speaker
You didn't have to do that. I think you could do standards or covers and then one original tune. But I kind of thought, well, when I graduate, I want something to carry on with. I don't want to just be like looking out into the abyss and feel like I have nothing once uni finishes.
00:17:36
Speaker
ah So I set up this project and challenged myself ah to write all the music for it and I actually didn't it was kind of a test because I was like I i don't personally think that I'm going to enjoy leading my own band um I don't know if this is going to be for me I'd played in other bands while I was at uni but it was all very collaborative and and so I just kind of wanted to see how it would feel and if I would like it but i was very doubtful And then ah when I started writing my own music and getting the project together, we started doing some little gigs around Leeds. Like, this is the brilliant thing about Leeds because I was just surrounded by musicians who were either studying at Elcom or who were alumni. And it's all a part of this tiny little community. Yeah, As soon as I was ready to have a gig basically, there was someone there with their arm over my shoulder just being like, come and play at the jam night or come and do this. like There are so many people there just like ready to...
00:18:46
Speaker
lift up like the younger musicians who are starting out with their new projects it's it's so supportive but yeah so I started gigging it and just slowly started to realize that I really really enjoyed performing my own music and how that felt it was a lot more rewarding for me than playing in a collaborative project which I'd loved doing that like it's so much fun and I enjoyed writing as a group and we did some really really fun gigs but I think what I enjoyed was like the control of being able to create music that felt like it was coming from me like if yeah whatever sound I wanted or whatever I wanted to say
00:19:33
Speaker
I got the final say on it and there wasnt it wasn't someone else in the room to be like, oh, but I think we should do this, which is something that's really fun about writing collaboratively because it comes up with like a mishmash of ideas to create something unique. But I just loved the feeling of control and also like vulnerability, I think, so it was much more personal.
00:20:30
Speaker
Because you with Abstract Orchestra for a bit, right? is that Yeah, yeah. Oh, cool. Yeah, which was an amazing experience because Rob Mitchell, who is and a sax player and band leader from Leeds, and he runs that band, he was my tutor while I was studying.
00:20:48
Speaker
No way. So yeah, he he would like get me on board to do a few gigs with Abstract Orchestra. ah which was really fun and like just really good like ah learning experience as well because a lot of the players in that band are tutors at the college or like really heavy like older musicians so I was a bit like god but it was good And I guess that must be a boost of confidence to be brought in by those older musicians.
00:21:23
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. like it It, again, felt very much like I was being taken under his wing and just given an opportunity to learn and like be a part of that group and kind of see how things are done in that setting.
00:21:38
Speaker
um So it was amazing experience. i'm I'm really, really grateful for that as well. Yeah. Yeah. For anyone that doesn't know Abstract Orchestra, kind of rework and reimagine, you know, music from the kind of so-called, you know, golden era of hip hop, right, of sort of J Diller and Mad Lib and that kind of um world of music. So were were you touring with them? Was that some of your first experience touring as well?
00:22:03
Speaker
I think I did very small chunks of touring. That was one of my first opportunities to play outside of Leeds kind of thing and to yeah on the the road.
00:22:13
Speaker
I'd done that a little bit with, so I was in ah another band called Tรชte de Poir, from Leeds. Did you play the Gallimore 3 a few times? Yeah. Yeah, no way. Yeah, came to that gig. Yeah.
00:22:27
Speaker
yeah i can like um Oh my God. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah, years ago now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, But yeah, we did some of our first touring, ah which was very, very DIY. We were talking about this the other day, actually, because my guitarist and drummer, we played in that band together and that's how I became close with those guys. And then they started playing with me. Yeah.
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah, we were just like thinking about it was our first ever full yeah UK tour of like driving down to London and then down to Brighton, Bristol, like Bath I think, back up to like Birmingham, Manchester, like doing the full tour and just like sleeping on floors or going back to the promoter's house and then just realising that there's like no beds or something. Yeah, there's one sofa between...
00:23:21
Speaker
yeah exactly and just how up for it we were were we were saying like what would our reaction be if that happened now kind of thing but when you're at that age it's just like so new and fun and exciting yeah yeah that's funny I was so I was chatting to Liam Shortall Corte Alto on this yeah but he was saying it's kind of funny when you start because we had exactly the same experience you you're kind of slumming it and then get those first European bookings of like when you get your own hotel room and you're kind of in the lobby and you're like oh what we don't have to like share a bed or like sleep at the foot of a sofa or something you kind of have this sort like sad wave goodbye to your bandmates like oh I guess I'll see in the morning like this is weird Yeah, literally. It's so funny how quickly you forget. like
00:24:14
Speaker
Every time, ah because occasionally like we'll get treated, because it's quite a big band, most of the time we have to share a hotel room, which again, completely fine. It's a lovely hotel. It's almost like too nice for what we need.
00:24:27
Speaker
But then if we get a single room each, and it's just like oh this is great and then next the next time we have to share again everyone's a bit like what we don't get our own rooms it's like guys this is luxury yeah yeah yeah it's so funny there's uh you know joshua iddehen the um no i don't uh he's brilliant like spoken word poet artist but he he's been on tour he's been sharing these brilliant like hotel reviews of exactly that the kind of gamble of like you step in one day and it's like the presidential suite of like some amazing hotel and then the next time it's like oh there's four of us in a travel lodge family room and someone's got like the night ah weird sofa bed that you have to pull out yeah
00:25:15
Speaker
is I'm trying really hard to like every time we do a European gig and we get that treatment I'm just like really really trying to never take it for granted and to still feel just at ah as excited and kind of giggly as the first time yeah that we we played in Europe yeah kind of going back to the you know talk about the financial side of things and you know, yes, there's a struggle and, you know, it's hard sometimes taking the show on the road, but I just always come back to that thing of like, you know, tell your 16 year old self that you're doing this and you're in yeah Lithuania or Germany wherever, and you're playing music to a room full of people that
00:25:58
Speaker
you know, aren't your, you know, your mum and dad, your friends from work, you know, it is an amazing thing. And I think that's probably what keeps us all, you know, going and kind of turning a blind eye to those kind of financial suicide moments.
00:26:16
Speaker
of touring though yeah yeah i think you're so right i've actually you been trying to do exactly that what you're saying about like imagine what your 16 year old self would think of this situation but i've been trying to do it with moments where if i catch myself kind of moaning about having to do something if it's like slightly stressful or tedious or boring but it's some it's like really important work towards uh the music that i'm doing or anything like that maybe it's like some admin for a gig and i'll just catch my brain being like don't want to do this right now i could really do without this
00:26:57
Speaker
And I've been trying to switch into the 16-year-old me or like the 19-year-old me when I was getting this band together, who would be like, oh my God, yeah, I get to make a ride for this gig. yeah And it's like new and cool.
00:27:12
Speaker
i've been yeah I've been trying to do that a lot more recently. Yeah.
00:27:57
Speaker
You seem to have been doing some amazing shows recently, you know, talking about
Performing at Elbphilharmonie and Venue Challenges
00:28:01
Speaker
Europe. And it seems like there's there's been some great stuff with Gondwana as well. I saw the, um ah is it the Hamburg Philharmonie? Yeah, the Elbphilharmonie.
00:28:13
Speaker
Yeah, it seems like a really amazing space and different artists from from lots of different genres being invited there. But um yeah, how how was that? It was incredible. We've we've played there twice now, both as Gondwana label knights.
00:28:32
Speaker
And the first time we played there, it was just after released Horizon. So it was very new. and And it was incredible. And I remember thinking, like i really, really hope that I get to play here again at some point. It was just the...
00:28:51
Speaker
its Yeah, it's just such an insane venue. like The way it's designed, the acoustics are just incredible. I think i mean i think it's a classical ah yeah concert hall, really, because you walk in on the stage and you can just hear everything. like It's such a huge room. It's like a spaceship and the seats go like right up to the ceiling.
00:29:14
Speaker
And even when you're right at the top, you really can hear everything, like hear a pin drop. It's just performing in that room and it it feels so um acoustic and just natural. It's like minimal ah amplification.
00:29:32
Speaker
And those are my favorite kinds of gigs because you can just be so much more expressive and it feels way more intimate, even though it is a huge room. I think it's like 2000 cap. and you're completely surrounded as well. The audience goes all the way around, which is also a mad experience, is being surrounded and people like peering down at you kind of thing.
00:29:55
Speaker
But yeah ah just there's something about the way the sound feels in that room. It it doesn't feel vast. It feels really, really intimate. um yeah Yeah. Yeah, it's just it's amazing. it's It's one of the most incredible venues I've ever played in.
00:30:11
Speaker
um and it was really, really cool playing there ah in April for the most recent Gondwana event as well because that was the first time that I'd played with a full string quartet.
00:30:23
Speaker
and Wow, yeah. And it's a string quartet on the albums, but I've only ever played with two strings ah right live, and that was only once for a gig last year in London.
00:30:38
Speaker
and So yeah, this was the first time and it it was just so beautiful in that room. Like it was really, really special. and And I wasn't expecting it to be so emotional, but it like really got me. There's just something about the the live strings and hearing it all come together. And like, it was, yeah, it was amazing. It was so cool.
00:30:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, beautiful. um Yeah, I mean, I guess your music's so dynamic and there are those really you know, beautiful moments of, you know, kind of quiet and and clarity. Do you...
00:31:17
Speaker
find that doesn't translate as well when you're in maybe a louder venue or you know a less kind of acoustically perfect space um how do you feel do you do you feel you need to kind of play louder or harder to kind of compensate for for bad acoustics yeah i guess not every every venue can be as incredible as that right Yeah, like I think, well, my first thought is always... Okay, to it sorry, I have two answers for this.
00:31:48
Speaker
First one, which is kind of ah side note, no matter the venue, I always want to go into it and just not change the set because I feel like...
00:31:59
Speaker
if I've been booked, people should know what the music is and that hopefully that's what they're turning up for. And so like I don't want to try and fit it into a mold, but I don't think that necessarily is a comment on the sound. I think maybe that can be an insecurity. If you're going into a louder venue, you'd presume that the audience wants a rowdier set. And so really just try and play it by ear. I think if it if we go somewhere...
00:32:28
Speaker
like For example, when we played at Brick Lane Jazz Festival recently, that was at Rich Mix and I've played at Rich Mix before years ago, so i I knew the kind of sound system that it has in there. and that is like They do some really loud gigs there. and So I was kind of thinking like, oh God, you know it's a standing audience as well and we're used to sit down gigs.
00:32:52
Speaker
like very, very ah calm like jazz venues and stuff. and But I was also, yeah i again, I just like don't want to change it too much um because there are still ways in which like I really like to have like peaks and troughs in the set and I think that's really cool to be able to strip it back and then have heavier moments and stuff.
00:33:18
Speaker
and I was really pleasantly surprised by ah the audience at Rich Mix because even though it was a full light standing room of people it wasn't rowdy and I feel like people came and listened really well and even though it is a loud sound system it it was really good and like everything was super clear and it didn't feel boomy and so we were kind of able to make it work but I've definitely done gigs where um Yeah, that it's just not been right and I've kind of been like, oh, this is this is a shame, but you can yeah you just have to try and do the best you can with what you've got to work with.
00:33:59
Speaker
Yeah, we did quite a funny gig at Lost Village a few years ago, which is like really heavy drum and bass festival, but they do have a jazz stage and...
00:34:13
Speaker
we and So we got booked and I was like, yeah, this will be cool. um I've never been to Lost Village, but I've heard good things about it. like I have a few friends that go there quite a lot and they've got a jazz stage. Great. That's amazing that they're trying to like bring this in.
00:34:27
Speaker
And we got there and the stage was... so in this tent with a bar in it, um so it's kind of like tucked away, but it was right next to this really, really loud tent that was like blasting drum and bass for the entire time. So we rocked up and we were like, okay, that's that's fine, they're definitely going to turn that off when we start playing.
00:34:50
Speaker
And then we asked the sound person and they were just like, yeah, no, we have no control over that tent. and So that's going to be happening throughout your set.
00:35:02
Speaker
And so we just had to play and like no one could hear us. We're playing really lovely, like the more stripped back stuff because I didn't know what to expect. So we'd written the set and it was like new beginnings.
00:35:15
Speaker
And like we didn't do Words Left Unspoken, thankfully, because I think that would have... right a part of me would have died we'd done that um but it was funny it was an interesting experience i mean i think it's definitely one of the the worst worst gigs that we've done but it was definitely like character building in that respect because i think there were like three people watching in the audience and um Initially when we started sound checking and I realised that the music was going to keep playing and that the set would just be rubbish, like I i got ah started to get a bit um angry and I was a bit upset and then I kind of just checked myself for a second and was like,
00:36:03
Speaker
This is actually just quite funny. It doesn't matter. And like there are going to be a few people in the audience, we're all here, like we might as well just kind of suck it up and try and have a good time. There's no point getting taking it too seriously and getting too too angry about it because that's not going to gain anything. It is what it is. yeah Yeah, I mean, and actually having bandmates you know really well and trust kind of helps those situations for sure. I mean, we've certainly had that where, like, yeah, it will be ah ridiculous gig, but because you're with your best mates, it kind of can turn into a funny anecdote. And, you know, I did a lot of solo touring before kind of starting the wider ensemble, and that was kind of partly...
00:36:54
Speaker
the reasoning for getting mates involved because like yeah was doing these sort live solo shows and it was all really stressful and like you'd do a bad gig and then have no one to kind of laugh it off with or you know go back to your hotel room or whatever and just be like in your mind about it and like you say you know really emotional pieces of music you poured your soul into and yeah you know there's just someone having yeah a ridiculous drunk conversation right in front you yeah but then like yeah if you're with your mates or bandmates you know you can really remember it through different yeah different eyes as it were um yeah and like that's that's part of the festival world right you know like you know when you talk about hoping your audience turn up
00:37:41
Speaker
knowing your music or whatever like that goes out the window of festivals yeah yeah oh what's this you know like yeah when are starting it's like we're halfway through the set this yeah yeah it's bit weird isn't it yeah you just have to laugh at it i think it's like i think those experiences are actually really important it's just like yeah yeah it's like we were saying about the whole hotel situation you just have to keep checking yourself and I think it's really good to have to have little character building, like grounding experiences.
00:38:18
Speaker
Just to remind to yourself that like it's all just meant to be fun, you know? it's just yeah It's just music. Obviously, it becomes so much more than that, but that's kind of, I think, how we all entered into this.
00:38:32
Speaker
so it's good to try and keep that in mind.
Signing with Gondwana and Developing Her Sound
00:39:21
Speaker
So let's let's talk a bit about Gondwana because like when I listen to your music, you know, there isn't a better home I can think of than Gondwana Records, which, you know, as a label I've loved for years and and I've always kind of admired ah what Matthew Horsall does. And there seems to just be such a vision, you know, across the whole label. But, you know,
00:39:46
Speaker
And I don't know if this is true, but, you know, it seems that his vision kind of does kind of become part of each individual record as well. And it it feels like there's a real um beautiful, ah yeah, relationship there. um how How did that come about? were Were you aware of Gondwana before or were you, you know, does the label inform the music or were you kind of...
00:40:09
Speaker
yeah always a fan or yeah how did that start yeah i was a fan of gondwana before i started working with them and i was aware of them because of uh noia ryo who are a leeds based uh band and they were signed with gondwana um and i loved them and reaching the point where i knew um quite early on that I wanted to work with a label at some point I was kind of aware that my brain works with music the music side of things and the creating but I'm not amazing with the business side of things and I i kind of decided that I wanted support if I was going to take it further I didn't really fancy
00:40:55
Speaker
Well, like I always would have done it DIY and I did up until that point but I was kind of just like I'm gonna start trying to find a label to work with. Oh, that's gonna be my goal for the next couple of years.
00:41:09
Speaker
And funnily enough, I actually wrote like a five-year plan for myself. at one point and getting signed to Gondwana was on in the plan and because it's like you said that it just I just felt like they were would work really well with me and it would be well suited and and And so my plan was to write an album um and then approach them.
00:41:38
Speaker
ah And this was like a year after I'd graduated, so my music was still very different. It didn't really have that shift into spiritual contemporary until I started working with Matthew and I think he really helped me He like guided me to find a sound that felt very authentic and and like reflected who I am and my personality.
00:42:07
Speaker
and We knew that we wanted to work together. I'd been gigging around... like ah the North quite a lot and he'd my name had come up um and I think he knew that he wanted to work with more artists who were Northern and and he was also looking for more female-led projects to potentially work with um and so he came to one of my gigs in Manchester and then he said um you know i don't want to ah lock anything in yet but start writing some stuff
00:42:41
Speaker
and send it to me and I'll give you some feedback and it was very open and at this point I didn't have a sound really I had my the stuff that I was writing and I liked that but it was still very ah mixed and kind of wish-washy I think and and I didn't know what i wanted this album to sound like and so I just started writing everything that came to mind I wasn't really filtering it or trying to write in a specific style I was just writing everything and sending it to him and yeah his feedback was this is cool but I think you just need to listen to all of this now and
00:43:24
Speaker
pick one of those sounds and go with that because if you're going to release an album it has to be cohesive if listeners are going to understand it and connect with it um yeah you do need they do need to kind of be able to understand who you are and what you're trying to say so It can't be too all over the place.
00:43:46
Speaker
This was like the first kind of contemporary or more jazzy tune that I'd written in the selection. And it was New Beginnings actually and I'd written it right for a clarinetist that I really wanted to work with.
00:43:59
Speaker
I was like, yeah, that's how I was also writing is I was picking ah musicians who I wanted to feature and thinking I'll write a tune for them. and So New Beginnings was ah yeah for this clarinetist who I didn't end up working with, but she plays a lot of contemporary stuff, and so I kind of tried to mold it in that way so that she would like it. and um I realized that it actually resonated a lot with me, and I'd never really thought to write that stuff before, but it kind of made so much sense because when I was at uni, I was really into contemporary big band writing and like Kenny Wheeler and all of that stuff.
00:44:35
Speaker
And for some reason it had just never crossed my mind to try and write it myself. I loved playing it and listening to it. And then when I wrote that piece, I was like, oh, yeah, I'm going to write more like this and just see how it feels.
00:44:49
Speaker
And, um, Matthew was just really brilliant in giving guidance in that way and kind of like almost like a therapist where he was like guiding me to have these epiphanies for myself if you know what I mean as though i was like figuring them all out but he was just kind of giving me like a nudge in the right direction. um Yeah.
00:45:11
Speaker
And so yeah I just really, really respect the way that they work with artists and kind of can nurture them at the start. I mean, it it varies. There's not always that level of support with everyone.
00:45:25
Speaker
I think some artists come onto the label and they've just kind of got it more together ah and they'll just say present the music and it's great, like it's good to go.
00:45:35
Speaker
But I think at that point, he really wanted to He knew that I was at the start and that I needed this guidance, so he took the time um to help me get there.
00:45:48
Speaker
and Even throughout the whole process, there was no pressure. like He was very, very transparent, which I also really um respect we hadn't signed anything nothing was locked in and still we'd been working together for a year and we both put quite a lot of time and effort towards this thing but he kept on saying at any point if you're not comfortable like that's absolutely fine it doesn't matter about the time that we've put into it or the work yeah yeah and what's important is that this is right.
00:46:21
Speaker
and I think because he takes that care um and there's a ah respect there for everyone that they're working with, I think that's why the label works so well.
00:46:34
Speaker
they really care about only working and having relationships with artists where there's like trust and it's yeah it's easy and it's a good working relationship and it could be honest there's no pressure and I think at any point if it starts to feel sour or if it's not working they're just like it's It's not right and there's no point kind of continuing it.
00:47:00
Speaker
and yeah I just think they're a a really beautiful label to work with. um yeah They've created a really nice roster and because it's like you said,
00:47:12
Speaker
There's such a clear like sound and yet every artist has their own individual thing. It's really cleverly done. and But they've built this kind of family where the artists can collaborate with one another and like it works really well because there's so much similarity and crossover. um yeah And everyone on the label is just lovely as well.
00:47:35
Speaker
yeah I feel really, really, really lucky to work with them. Yeah.
00:47:54
Speaker
you
00:48:36
Speaker
I mean, how different was that other music, you know when you talk about kind of and approaching different styles and was it more in the hip-hop world or was it, were you making beats or, you know, but where where did the other kind of inspirations come from that that didn't make the final cut?
Musical Influences and Impact of Lockdown
00:48:54
Speaker
That's a really, that's a good question. i think I'm trying remember. Is it all drum and bass? Yeah. Yeah, we would have fit in perfectly at Lost Village. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:49:04
Speaker
Missed the trick there. I was listening to Kareem Riggins. I was listening to a lot of, like, electronica, which I still love now and influences my music now, but in a different way, I guess.
00:49:21
Speaker
Like, Fortet. Yeah, yeah. Bonobo, who I've always loved. and Trying to think who else at the time. Did you kind of, yeah, see yourself as ah as a producer then as as much as an instrumentalist or what was it always saxophone as your thing and making space for that musically? Yeah.
00:49:42
Speaker
I think, yeah, exactly. I've never done production. And so when I was into all this music, I was taking influence from it in my writing, but it was still very much like I was sat at my computer with Sibelius in front of me and I was being inspired by the loops in the music but i wasn't creating my own loops i was writing them um so it was still all like live instruments um i tried the track thing um i had a ah go at uh doing some like live looped tracks uh with ableton for a little bit and i think
00:50:25
Speaker
That was around the time, like that was just before I started trying to write Horizons, um where it kind of took a different path. And i think I think about this sometimes actually, I would have been interested to see how far I would have gotten with that, because I didn't realize it at the time, but I don't think it was very me.
00:50:49
Speaker
and And so I was like trying to learn and trying to make it work because I thought it was cool. But I don't know. Yeah, i want to I would love to be able to see how far I would have actually been able to take that.
00:51:04
Speaker
but yeah um Yeah, i it was very much just like I was inspired by that style of music in the writing. And I think... that was something that actually maybe made the way I was writing a little bit unique I mean at the time I didn't feel like I knew what I was doing at all um hadn't really had any composition like education learned a little bit at uni but I really felt like I was just kind of winging it maybe maybe that's how artists always feel i don't know
00:51:38
Speaker
Or like when you're just like trying to write stuff and you just always feel like an imposter. But was kind of just giving it a go and being influenced in that way. And I think it it kind of meant that by being inspired by heavily produced music and then trying to bring that into like a jazz setting, it created something that was a little bit different, I guess.
00:52:03
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah, yeah. And was it was written around lockdown as well, right? Do you feel that was a ah heavy influence as to how things turned out? Was it a calming of pace or, yeah, because, I mean...
00:52:20
Speaker
We certainly had our lockdown record of like, you know, planning a big thing and they're like, oh, right. Oh, we're all going to have to just like record stuff on our phone and chuck it together. And that's how the record got made. But yeah, i feel like yeah I've heard you say Horizons was kind of your your lockdown record, as it were. so It was. Was that big influence or big kind of, did that seep in?
00:52:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think it did in a very kind of hindsight kind of way. I think lockdown gave me the headspace to be able to put so much time into it, which weirdly, yeah, I'm really grateful for and because before lockdown, I'd just come out of uni.
00:53:08
Speaker
um I'd been out of uni about a year or just over a year before lockdown, So I was doing a lot of teaching, like scrambling and to just become self-employed and ah financially kind of stable.
00:53:23
Speaker
And it was a very stressful period and I think I wasn't really looking after myself properly in a lot of ways. Again, in hindsight, I didn't know that at the time.
00:53:36
Speaker
and But I think I was just really, really stressed. And so as soon as lockdown hit, it was like this huge release, which I think worked amazingly well for the album because it gave me this time, like I said, to not filter anything, to just write and write and write.
00:53:57
Speaker
um and to write stuff that I didn't want to use and to just like really get stuck into that process. um And without that time, i I really don't know how the album would have turned out. turned out I don't think it would have been ah anywhere near as like thought out and emotional and personal.
00:54:19
Speaker
um So I'm really grateful because of that, but also on the kind of flip side of things, all that space just made my mental health completely crash.
00:54:33
Speaker
And I think it was like... I'd been ignoring a lot of things, or maybe it was like a build-up of things, which is really easy to just keep on going when you're busy. It's like constant distractions.
00:54:48
Speaker
And then and lockdown, there were no distractions and there was just all this time. we were all locked up in our houses. and I think it really forced me to confront a lot of things which again in hindsight like amazing but at the time was really difficult so like the writing became an escape from all of that as well which is why Horizons became about that and I didn't really realize it at the time but the writing was like ah kind of like healing me or it became a very cathartic process of kind of releasing all of these emotions and I didn't again didn't realize it at the time
00:55:29
Speaker
um So yeah, it's it's very like it was a very bittersweet experience in a lot of ways, and which I think weirdly comes through in the music because I think without context, if you listen to my music, it it sounds very uplifting, which it is. is very It's very positive and it's very spiritual.
00:55:53
Speaker
um But I think if you're aware of the meaning behind it, it has this edge to it which can be quite emotive. i From speaking to people at my gigs, that kind of that energy or like that edge really does connect with people if they're like thinking about similar experiences with mental health and stuff.
00:56:18
Speaker
it's like the feeling of like release i guess um but yeah yeah it was it was such a heavy time but i'm i'm weirdly grateful for it i mean yeah so strange it just feels so long ago now as well it's kind of mad that it even happened yeah yeah it's crazy looking back for sure it's yeah was such a bizarre time but as you say I mean your music yeah to me is you know exactly that it's uplifting it's hopeful it's kind of celebratory I guess of yeah um uh yeah positive kind of affirmations and and yeah I think that's
00:57:06
Speaker
the beautiful thing about music and writing music isn't it to have that outlet and um yeah it's again careful what you wish for it's kind of you know the dream of being a teenager right to to make your own music but it sends you on a wild journey that's for sure yeah um amazing um cool well you know it's been great to chat and uh really get uh under the skin of of yeah where you are as an artist and and how you got there so thanks so much for being so generous with your time jasmine oh not at all thank you for having me it's been really lovely flu no worries um so yeah that you're two albums down and you're you're touring and you're digging and
00:57:54
Speaker
um seeming
Current Writing and Recording Process
00:57:56
Speaker
very busy. is Is there a new record in the works? Is that drum and bass record getting made? What's next? um I'm doing a lot of writing at the moment. So yeah, I'm ah recording ah new album ah next month, which is exciting. So I've been writing for that all this year and and getting that ready.
00:58:19
Speaker
yeah, Yeah, that's that's been like all of my focus at the moment. um I've got a few gigs and stuff across the rest of the year, um but I just really want to get some new music out, so that's what I'm doing at the moment.
00:58:35
Speaker
How does that process happen? Are you all in a room recording together? is there ah Is there a producer involved? Are you know you can um doing it bit by bit, or is it a kind of set amount of time that you're in the studio?
00:58:49
Speaker
Yeah, so um the last two albums, we recorded it all live, but then there were some overdubbed parts, like the flutes and percussion and strings and stuff. So we recorded as a band and then ah kind of layered it up.
00:59:07
Speaker
ah But for this one, I really wanted to challenge myself to record it all live. So it's going to be a much bigger band and it's the strings are going to be there and like all the... all the different ah ah melody instruments like the flutes and and clarinet and stuff so I just want to see how it feels if we're all in the room and I have a feeling that because this one's a little bit more string heavy and I've tried to write the strings for this one and so sometimes
00:59:42
Speaker
the melodies shared with those parts and I really just felt like we all needed to be in the room and to be able to hear the full sound of it. and So we'll see, it's a challenge.
00:59:55
Speaker
I wanted to like it try and step it up, I guess, or just see see how it feels with everyone there um in comparison to overdubbing.
01:00:07
Speaker
But hopefully, fingers crossed. It's all going to be good. um So, yeah, I'm excited. Amazing. So funny, isn't it? Because like, yeah, when I talk to mates or whatever that aren't directly em involved in music, that's kind of the assumption that that is how music's written. But it's so far from the truth in this day and age. So yeah, in in admiration of your your bravery there. So i can't wait to hear what comes out. um It's really exciting. And yeah, that's something that clearly comes across from talking to you of, you know, always challenging, always looking for the next.
01:00:53
Speaker
um Yeah, adventure musically. So I'm sure everyone is very excited to hear that. thank cool wow Thank you so much Jasmine um and i hopefully see you on the road somewhere soon yeah thank you so Thank you for having me
01:01:26
Speaker
Alright, hope you enjoyed that. um I certainly did. Jasmine's got great energy and yeah, really, really incredible musician and yeah, just had a lot of fun kind of chatting through all the touring stuff and the kind of, yeah, wild ride we seem to put ourselves on emotionally as musicians.
01:01:49
Speaker
um Yeah, hope you you enjoyed it too. um Sorry it was kind of a bit belated. Yeah, as I said at the beginning, summer got busy. And yeah, now planning to kind of hunker down and and get these out as often as possible. Got some amazing guests lined up. So hopefully you'll stick around and come back for more. um Do subscribe and...
01:02:11
Speaker
share yeah your feelings and and a review of the podcast because that really helps um yeah I'll end kind of just looping back to that show in London um it's currently the day of the tickets going on sale as I speak uh they've only been out a couple of hours and we've already sold think like 20% of them and and Considering it's next May, I imagine these will go. So if you do want to come see us alongside the Rituals Orchestra, string quartet, harp, loads of guest vocalists playing music from all three albums, ah yeah, please, please do get a ticket because I'd hate for you to miss out.
01:02:53
Speaker
It's the kind of show that, I don't know, it's just quite impossible to tour. We kind of looked into it and to be honest, yeah, taking 20 people around the country.
01:03:05
Speaker
I should say taking five people around the country as it currently is is near impossible. So yeah, time's out by four. And unfortunately, um it's probably unlikely. So as much as I hate the fact we're only doing a gig in London, it also seems like the most logical place to do it.
01:03:23
Speaker
It is on a Saturday. We did try really hard to to make sure it's on a weekend to allow for people to travel and and all of that. So yeah, do come join us and come back here for more chat because I'll be back very soon with another guest.
01:03:39
Speaker
Until then, this has been Pete from Ishmael Ensemble and you've been listening to Catching Light. Thank you so much. Catch you soon.
01:03:52
Speaker
you