Ezra Jordan’s music draws inspiration from genres including R&B/Funk, Alt-Pop and executes songwriting with a keyboard-oriented approach, forging his own path in the music industry with his soulful, refreshing and authentic sound.

Ezra Jordan wrote LOW with his drummer and it’s about Mental Health.
When someone has chicken pox, you notice. When someone is sick with the flu, you notice. When someone is suffering from mental health, you don’t. Just like this song, LOW targets the juxtaposition of mental health; where an upbeat exterior can be the hiding place for depression. In today’s world, 1 in 5 people in Canada are affected by mental health and we hope that this song opens a door to a dialogue that is long overdue.

In this interview spotlight, I chat with Ezra about the single, technology, challenges and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

I’m born in raised in Toronto, but I went to school for music out in LA and lived there for a little while afterwards, so I feel like both places have had an impact on the kind of music I create. If I had to narrow my musical style down to a few words, I would say something like “alternative pop mixed with R&B and soul”, but the truth of the matter is that with the emergence of streaming as a huge player in the music listening marketplace, there are so many little niches and micro-genres that I find it difficult to define a lot of music as one specific thing.

I was influenced a lot by the old jazz greats that my dad used to listen to growing up (Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker), but during my teenage years I got really heavily into guys like John Mayer, Coldplay and D’Angelo. I think my sound resides somewhere in between those 3.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

I’ve been on a musical path since the day I was born. My parents and my sister are all professional singer-songwriters, and I never really considered having a career outside of music. I thought maybe I’d be a producer or film scorer at first, but I fell in love with singing and writing songs when I was 18. I’m really motivated to make this career work for me because I see how much it still means to my parents, even though they’ve been doing it for decades. My dad has been writing songs for more than 50 years, and he’s still in his studio almost every day working away, because it’s still fun for him. I hope to be so lucky as to have something in my life that still brings me so much joy by the time I’m his age.

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

This new release is a little bit different than the others as it had a clear focus on a specific issue right when we started writing it. I co-wrote it with my friend and band mate Julian Psihogios during a time when we were both struggling a little bit with our mental health. We were talking about what it was like to go through these darker periods of anxiety and depression, and we were both struck by the contrast between how we felt inside, as opposed to how we appeared to feel to our friends and family looking from the outside. From that conversation, we ended up writing this song, which seems upbeat and happy at first, until you pay attention to the lyrics and realize it’s about feeling just the opposite. With that said though, we hope this song helps people open up more, and essentially feel happier.

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this over saturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

As an indie musician, it can definitely be hard to make your music stand out amongst the crowd. With the advances in music technology, it’s so much easier to get your music out there. I think this is a good thing, but it does mean there is way more music that the decision makers in the industry have to sift through in order to find what you put out there.

Another challenge I’ve faced, is financing my career. It requires a good amount of upfront cash to get music out there. You need to pay for a producer, a mixer, a masterer, promotion, and many other things. And that doesn’t even include playing live and touring. Ideally you end up making your money back, but it is far from guaranteed, and it can be hard to get enough money together upfront to get the ball rolling.

What was the last song you listened to?

Space Cowboy by Kacey Musgraves. Absolute masterpiece, in my opinion.

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

There’s something great about putting on a vinyl record that I love, but most of the time I’m listening to music in my car, or when I’m working on my computer, which ends up being an MP3. So strictly for convenience, I’d have to say I prefer MP3s.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

Up until recently I would have said Spotify, because it’s what I’m used to and it generally is a good service. However, with the recent issue of some providers (Spotify and others) trying to further reduce the royalties that songwriters receive from streaming, I would have to say Apple Music, only because as far as I know they weren’t a part of that group trying to be even more greedy than they already are.

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

In terms of social media, I’m definitely most active on my instagram @ezrajordan. But links to all my socials, everything I release, and general info about what I’m doing can also be found on my website ezrajordan.com

Anything else before we sign off?

To whomever is reading this, feel free to shoot me a message and I’ll be sure to get back to you!