Interview, Jasmine Myra on Coffee Shops, Work-Life Balance and the Power of Connection

Earlier this month saw the release of Rising, the latest album from Gondwana Records star Jasmine Myra. An exemplary choice for Presto Music's Recording of the Week, our review describes Myra's new record as "a convincing reminder of her skills as bandleader, composer and soloist." Known for her soothing compositional aesthetic and the mature handling of themes such as mental health in her work, Jasmine recently embarked on a comprehensive tour of esteemed UK jazz venues, including Nottingham's Peggy's Skylight, Leeds' Brudenell Social Club and Cecil Sharp House – home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. 

You'd think that a successful upcoming jazz artist wouldn't be keen on finding employment elsewhere, but I was surprised to find that, upon completing her tour, Jasmine was headed back to working in a local cafe in the Big Smoke, where she has recently moved.

Jasmine told me about the realities of her day-to-day life when she's not making music... 

When I got signed, I was still living in Leeds. I live in London now and, since moving, it's gotten a lot more expensive. I just needed a little boost working in the cafe for a couple of days. I think I would be fine without it… It's not something that I really need financially, but I've been enjoying having a little bit more stability. It forces me to be a lot busier, which gives me motivation. Personally, I find if I've got too much free time, I fall into the trap of not getting anything done. With more limited time, it’s a nice little escape from music for a few hours when I'm there, but I'm also thinking like, okay, when I get home, I really want to do this thing that I can't do now, I should practise or I need to send those emails! It's pushed me over the edge a little bit of just being overworked because the last couple of months have been really busy. But, you know, it's fun – it's all part of it!

Having just completed a UK tour, I was wondering if you might disclose what makes you tick as a musician. Is there an inner place that you have to visit before ‘getting in the zone’?

One thing I've found with trying to release Rising this year in particular, I really wanted to get back to writing before it had even come out. I tried, but then had to give up because it didn't feel like the right time. I was really trying to force it, but the juices were not flowing. Because I was anticipating the release and getting a little bit nervous and stressed about that, it put up this massive creative barrier. That's something that I've learned now – if it's not working, then don't force it. I don't necessarily need stillness, or the perfect environment to do it in but, at that time, it was just way too much to try and force. Now that tour's over and I'm feeling good about the music, I think it'll be much easier to write. It's like a headspace thing for me. My head feels a bit clearer now that's all out of the way, and I feel I've been boosted by the nice feedback. I don't feel like such an imposter anymore… That's been put to bed!

Have any particular experiences in the past couple of weeks stood out to you from your time on the road?

One thing that always takes me aback is when people have come up to me after the gigs and are quite emotional, actually on the verge of tears – positive tears! They were like, what you spoke about during the set or your music has really resonated with me. I think it's stirred up emotions in people, which I find really lovely. I’m not afraid of that kind of thing, even though it's quite intense, but I think it still just surprises me that it could have had that much of an effect on someone. There was one beautiful moment after Norwich Arts Centre when a pregnant lady came up to me and said that during the set, her baby was kicking way more than she's ever felt it kick before! In general, the feedback has been really warm. It's so cool to hear that my music is having a positive effect outside of itself, that the actual meaning behind it is resonating with people.

What music have you turned to when you’ve found yourself struggling or in a particularly dark place?

There have definitely been albums I go back to. There was one – this is super random – that I was listening to a lot. Villagers, Darling Arithmetic (2015): I was listening to this loads around the time of writing Rising. It has no connection whatsoever to my music, but it really resonated with me. ‘Courage’, the first track on the album, is really beautiful, then the second track as well, ‘Everything I Am is Yours’. Those two tunes were like crying-in-the-car songs! I'm sure there were other albums, but that's the one that comes to mind in helping me get everything out.

Is there anything else you seek comfort from like movies, poetry or perhaps something similar?

You know, poetry is something that I appreciate but have never fully gotten into. I'm actually reading Kae Tempest's book at the moment, ‘On Connection’. My friend recommended it, because it's all about being a creative and connecting with people on a really raw, human kind of level; connecting with life and being completely present in the moment sort-of-thing. I'm not actually that familiar with a lot of their work, but I need to check it out because the book is just incredible!

Has the book influenced the way you go about executing your role onstage or the way in which you connecting with live audiences?

I think, honestly, that talking has become a really important part of the set. I've tried to order the tunes in a certain way, because on this tour we've been playing a mixture from the two albums. It's been lovely getting to play all these consecutive dates, because I feel like it helped me work out an order that goes through the story of Horizons (2022) and where I was at that point, and how the new album is a continuation of that. Even in the meaning behind it, how it's all to do with me trying to move on from everything that I went through in lockdown and keep going along that path...

It's been really nice getting to tell that story in more detail throughout the set. It changes the way everyone listens; it helps the audience focus in. Then, as soon as we start playing, it makes people listen in a way that's emotional and maybe stirring memories or experiences within them. It just changes the whole mood of the room! That's the main part of the set, but it's also really beautiful when I'm not playing and just stood onstage listening to the band. They've all gotten so comfortable with these tunes now, it's been wonderful to stand back and listen. It feels so rewarding and satisfying to hear all of this work, all of these compositions and my vision for them being brought to life by my band. I'm having a really nice time when I'm not playing – I let them do the hard work (!)

I imagine there’s some difference between your joint responsibilities of performing versus composing… The artist who stays at home and soaks up their influences like a sponge, compared with the performer who goes out on tour in order to share their work with the public?

I love touring and socialising, but I think I am definitely one of those people, I wouldn't say fully introverted, but I think I'm kind of in the middle. Too much socialising completely depletes my battery, and that's how I'm feeling a bit right now! I'm looking forward to ‘space’, especially since summer's around the corner. I think it will be a good time to write, take things in and do some wholesome activities... reconnect with life a bit.

How does that period of ‘reconnecting’ look like to you?

I really love spending time at the seaside and surfing. I haven't done that in a little while, so I'm going to try and do some this summer as well. Hopefully, it'll restore my energy! I've been surfing in Brighton once which was really nice, but I need to have a look at some other spots along the South Coast. I used to go to Cornwall a lot when I was younger; we'd go bodyboarding. Then, a couple of years ago, a friend and I visited Ireland together. We took a surfing class there, and I just loved it! There's something about being in the sea… It's exercise, and also just really like, what's the word? ‘Mindful’, in a way. After we did that class, I thought it was something I needed to keep up.

Could you provide some insight into your writing process for us?

For the most part, my compositions and each person's part is quite specific, but the band know my music so well now that I trust them to branch off a little bit and add their own touches. At the start, I was more like, no, please just play what I've written! One thing about the music is that I really don't want it to be overplayed; it just has to serve the tune. It's quite chill, not about adding flourishes. That's something that can be difficult for various musicians, because it's really boring to play one repeated pattern. I write really simple parts for them as well – they're all so much more able to do cooler stuff than I allow! But, now that they get what I want from the music, I trust them to add sparse, occasional little things. One part of the track ‘Rising’ goes into this big washy, kind of noodley section, and that was just improvised! There's been parts where I've written space for us to do an improvised section, and then it'll come back down, like, okay, back to the chart now! I quite enjoy following the written music, which could sound really boring to some people… but that's just the sort of musician that I am. I think it's because I really care about the writing process, and I want that vision to be exact in the performance as well.

It certainly sounds like your writing style has truly developed since Horizons, especially in regards to your use of form and structure.

Thank you, that means a lot. Structure is something that I put a lot of thought into. I really care about how each section relates, how it's connected to the next one and how it’s developing overall. All these things, which maybe the listener doesn't notice or pay attention to that much, they really matter for the whole feeling of the song. It’s so important for me, the flow, and it really bothers me if I listen to a tune and you can hear that someone's written an A-section and a B-section, and then just kind of mashed them up. No, it has to all fit together!

There’s also some unexpected musical moments on Rising that we haven’t come across before in your work. For instance, that hypnotic trip-hop drum break on ‘Glimmers’...

That track was a throwback to the sort of music I used to write, before I was working with Gondwana. I was massively into Soweto Kinch and that kind of hip-hop/jazz fusion, and was writing loads of stuff like that. I still love that stuff and appreciate it, but with the music I'm writing now, its development feels closer to who I am, my personality and what I want to say through the music. It was really fun writing ‘Glimmers’ and experiencing that style of writing again. Like you said, I think it was possibly a bit unexpected for listeners. That's cool as well, for it not to be so predictable and to change it up a little bit. I'm glad I did it and that people liked it, because I was also like, oh God, this is so different – what if they hate it!

If you could book a flight and put on a gig tomorrow, what part of the world would you like to visit first, and which supporting artists would you bring along?

I really want to play in Japan! I've never been there, but it's somewhere that’d just be a dream to visit. It would be super cool if I could play there, so that's where I would choose to go! If I could be on a festival lineup there, or even put my own gig on… Who else would be on the lineup, who do I look up to? I'm really loving Makaya McCraven. I mean, I talk about this all the time, but his music has been a huge influence for me. Another artist is Felbm, and their album Elements of Nature (2021). They would be on my lineup because it's just super wholesome music. [Mort Garson’s] Mother Earth's Plantasia (1976) is another, if you’re familiar with that one? I don’t know why I’m obsessed with plant music at the moment, but it's a similar vibe. It's really wholesome, instrumental synth music, and I think it was literally created to be played to plants?

I can never tell if you’re supposed to play that kind of music in the company of your plants or if they’d prefer to listen in private…

I think it's just for them. It's like, here you go, my babies – I’ll leave you! I’m getting sidetracked… Alabaster DePlume would be on my lineup; I am obsessed with him! I think his music is beautiful. I saw him at We Out Here Festival last year when I was there, and just fell in love. I've been listening to his album GOLD (2022) loads… That's actually an example of an album that gets me through when I'm in a bad mood or if, you know, I'm having an off-day. His music always clears my mind and makes me feel like everything's going to be okay. I already knew that I loved his music and then, when I saw him perform, he just spoke so authentically! He was being really vulnerable and eccentric, but in a way that was so cool. It's like, you're being yourself and super weird right now, but in a way that I just love… There was no changing himself to fit in that space, if you know what I mean? Like, you might expect a different person to behave in a certain way, to be sensible or normal and to say all the right things. He just threw that out the window and I was like, that's so cool.

That can really make you happy, finding the right space to express yourself authentically without having to feel self-conscious, and it's that happiness which is just so attractive... It's something you always want to be around and share with others.

I think that's the kind of freedom that everyone's searching for as well. Everyone wants to be accepted, to feel like they can be their authentic self but it's not that easy, because we all have these voices in our head telling us that we're not good enough; that people are going to reject us. Or, you know, the way I am is weird or not acceptable. To see someone putting themself out there is so inspiring then. Why can’t we all just do that?

It would be so much better if we could all just say, screw it; I'm just going to be myself. It's hard to get out of that because, even though it’s just in your head, it all feels very real. I always do this really stupid thing where if I'm worrying about a situation, I'll decide what the outcome is going to be and create this hypothetical scenario that I'm convinced is going to happen, like the way someone's going to react to something… But, it's all just completely fabricated in my mind! And, I'll do it from things that have happened as well. If I have a bad social interaction where I come away feeling strange about it, I'll pick up on tiny, tiny details before creating this whole narrative around this one passing thing. It's just not real! That's something I've been working really hard on over the last year or so, just learning to flag each time I do that and to stop myself being like, wait, what evidence do you actually have here? What's real, and what's just, you know, made up.

People call our generation more sensitive but, in reality, I think we’re simply more vocal in facing up to those same unpleasant feelings that everyone in the world shares. Some of us are braver than others in confronting them, whether that's airing personal grievances or tackling more serious mental health issues.

I think you're right. We've always been as sensitive as we are, it's just that it's become way more accepted in society and more talked about in general. Now, everyone's allowed to say, yeah, I am sensitive, I'm f*cking human, of course I can have complex emotions! We're allowed to get upset if a friend or our family members say something,... We’re allowed to have strong feelings – why is that a bad thing? I think the previous generation just bottled it up and then shoved it down as if it was viewed as wrong or unacceptable to feel those things... I'm going to stuff them away and then they're going to come out in really unhealthy, toxic ways, but we're not going to deal with them because we think it's wrong (!) Finally, we're all saying, actually, should we unbox some of this?

I find it interesting how, in the past, it’s been the job of artists to confront life’s more uncomfortable themes through their work. Nowadays, it seems as if anyone can speak up on whatever issues they’re dealing with, for better or for worse! How do you feel about using your platform in this way?

That’s something I started doing because I care about it, and because of my own experience. It felt like the right thing for me to do, to present that side and make it a part of my music. But then, to be honest, it wasn't so much that I wanted to do it for the people when it started, if you know what I mean. That's been a wonderful part of how it's developed, how much it can help others. It's something that's become a really important part for me, using it as a platform to say we all go through this stuff and it's okay to talk about it – so, let's have those conversations!