For Jordan Joy, creativity has always been about finding new ways to tell a story. When we last caught up with the Irish singer-songwriter, she spoke to 1883 Magazine about her unconventional journey from political activism and social empowerment to discovering the transformative power of poetry and music. Having spent years developing her craft and exploring the relationship between words, imagery and sound, Joy is now entering a new chapter with her debut EP, LED Moon, out now.

Blending shimmering synths with hazy, late-night dream-pop, Joy’s music possesses a distinctly cinematic quality. Her songwriting draws on a poetic sensibility, capturing fleeting moments, unexpected connections and the complexities of human experience. Whether translating the atmosphere of a city into sound or transforming a passing encounter into a vivid narrative, Joy approaches music with the eye of a storyteller, building immersive worlds through imagery and emotion.

With a background in activism, a deep appreciation for literature and a creative journey spanning Dublin, New York and London, Joy brings a unique perspective to her artistry. Her move into music has allowed her to explore a different form of expression, transforming the written word into something atmospheric, intimate and entirely her own.

To celebrate the release of her debut EP, Jordan Joy has penned an exclusive track-by-track for 1883, delving into each song off the project.

A note from Jordan on the project and the lessons she’s learnt along the way

I’m proud of this project because in many ways I never thought I would make it. Music came to me at a time in my life when I wasn’t expecting it. My life had turned upside down and instead of looking for safety, I leaned into the unknown when I started writing music, and I am proud of choosing to do that.

I started writing songs purely as a survival mechanism—a private melodic diary. And I kept it a secret, from family and friends while I was figuring out my voice. So, to see these songs out in the world is an amazing thing. 

I was really overthinking my instincts in the beginning, and I am unlearning how to do that. I’m learning how to keep the edges into everything that I make, and how important it is to leave in errors and imperfections – they’re part of the creative. You need mistakes in a piece of art. 

‘LED Moon’

The EP is a breakup letter to New York and the life I thought I was supposed to be living there. We were referencing New York bands, and I think you can hear traces of LCD Soundsystem and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But New York is the character and the setting throughout intoxicating, restless and impossible to hold onto. 

It started when I wrote the lyrics for LED Moon while visiting the city to clean out my storage unit. I was imagining it being set in James Murphy’s bar Nightmoves that has a light up dance floor. The song is about the electricity of meeting someone that changes the atmosphere around you but there’s something false about the attraction, like an artificial romance or moonlight. Or maybe you’re trying to rewrite a story with someone, but it isn’t going to stand up in the light of day. In the studio with Jackson, we always play the mixes back while watching music videos or movies. This song we played to Smashing Pumpkin’s music video 1979 and that made me love it even more. 

‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’

Don’t Kill the Vibe was the last song we wrote on the record. I loved the instrumental the best, but we ran out of time in the studio, and I was going back to London the next evening. Before going to the airport, I went into Jackson’s studio and recorded a temp melody and lyric on the song but then its kind of just stuck and became the thing. It’s a domestic argument between a couple at a party in the kitchen at the end of a relationship— Wanting to go out on a high and a refusal to let the night go to waste. I think how we end relationships is sometimes more important than how we start them. How you remember the last taste someone left in your mouth, matters, and this song is making a case for that. I finished the song in London with producer Catherine Marks. 

‘One On One’

One On One is a morning after song, it’s about the hangover. But it’s the best hangover where you wake up next to someone and you can’t believe your luck. That doesn’t always go down so you can hear the euphoria in it, like the song is almost gloating. It’s about waking up and feeling seen through by someone, feeling the weight of a thousand eyes on you through the look of one person. I guess it’s talking about the electricity and exposure of being seen by the right person  “like I’m walking onto a stage, the floodlights adore me, covering my mistakes, one on one feels like a stadium”. 

‘Indigo Girl’

“She leaves the strangest impression, but you’re kinda obsessed.” Indigo girl came out on a day when I had no lyrical inspiration whatsoever just a cool track we made in the studio. It’s not really a song, so much as a scene I imagined taking place. Maybe from the first 10 minutes of a film where a lost protagonist goes out to a bar and meets an unlikely obsession.  A girl in blue shoes, dancing alone without obvious sex appeal, but with self-possession and something so characteristically weird, it’s beguiling. She’s the unexpected heroine of your night, and of your fascination. I wrote this with my friend Jackson with M83 on the radio as we were driving around Los Angeles. There’s a track called Graveyard Girl we were listening to that maybe inspired it. 

‘LED Moon Slower’

The track came from an accident in the studio when my brother Eli accidentally slowed down the original song tempo while trying to record backing vocals. My voice became pitched down and we realized the lower tempo really worked to hear the song and the lyrics better. I took it into the studio with Jackson, and we re-harmonized the chords, now it feels more melancholic, deeper.

I’m singing over my own pitched-down vocal, and it felt like the sound of looking back at something from a distance. Which works for the overall themes and feels of memory and nostalgia on the record. I finished the track in London with my friend and Irish producer Declan Lennon who was a big fan of the demo. 

Jordan Joy’s debut EP is out now, listen to it below.

Photography Shervin Lainez