Dublin Castle Wed 22nd Feb. There are few artists out there doing anything as compelling as Jordan Reyne. Thanks to Nina Wagner for the tea and biscuits chat sourced below…

There’s something powerful and mystical in her sound as her voice carries a certain beautiful sadness. It had been years since I felt so compelled by music to the point it made me repeat a track over and over again. And sure enough, Jordan’s sound became addictive.

With long, red curly hair, big blue eyes and milky skin, Jordan looks like a siren fresh from the ocean. Sitting down opposite her, I am instantly hypnotized by her genuity and feel instantly like I’ve made a new best friend. A real one though, not one just for coffee.

Settling in, I ask her how she’s finding London compared to Germany, although New Zealand born, she journeyed over to Europe a few years back, being told that Europe would be the place where she’d fit in instantly.

“London has a real energy, like you know things are really happening here. I have heard people say London is unfriendly, but after being in Hamburg for 5 years, I must say I don’t notice it. I really enjoy it here.”

“I like stories,” she tells me, “Generally, my songs and albums are sort of a Grimm’s-fairy-tale based on actual people from around the time of the Industrial Revolution. These come off like folk tales, but somewhat more bloodthirsty, and although I use folk instruments, I also use the sounds of steam, steel and iron as percussion and a sort of ‘setting’ for the characters involved.”

I loved folk stories as a child. I liked their sense of darkness, hidden meaning, and the way they delved into the sometimes horrible sides of the human condition as well as the happy ones. They were often gripping, and terrible, at the same time, and always seemed set in a world I had no access to – an old world, far away. Growing up in New Zealand, I think, makes everything seem far away, but it was temporal too. I try and recreate that in my music. I gravitate to the industrial revolution I think because people’s lives were so altered and torn by the change in how things were done – by the invention of new machines – that it made their adventures and struggles that much more dramatic.”

‘Children of a Factory Nation’ follows a Welsh family from the late 1800s to the workhouses of London. It starts with a guy whose name was Johnathan, who follows the call of the sea – a life of adventure – instead of conforming to societal expectation. He gets tired though, like we all do, when following difficult paths, and tries to convince himself he wants a normal life. It doesn’t work though, cos he isn’t built like that. The sea keeps calling and eventually, he answers – but the price is high.”

Join us to experience this incredibly talented and original artist Feb 22nd Dublin Castle fronting an excellent bill of fare.