Jordan Joy’s Poetic Debut EP ‘LED Moon’

Nostalgia is both a girl’s best friend and her worst enemy, and Irish-born singer-songwriter Jordan Joy knows this all too well. With the release of her debut single “Don’t Kill the Vibe” earlier this year, indie-pop lovers now have another emerging voice to play on repeat.

Joy followed her debut single with the release of two more singles, “Indigo Girl” and “LED Moon,” and finally her very first EP titled LED Moon. With young life in New York as the project’s cultural and emotional landscape, the five tracks come together to create a dreamy narrative exploring themes of love, change, and finding your place.

Immediately within the first few seconds of “LED Moon” you’re transported into an atmosphere similar to that of hazy late night filled with a vaguely familiar nagging in the back of your mind that something isn’t fully right: “No one falls in love tonight / But baby let me see you try / The sky in artificial light.”

The chorus is hypnotic repetition and pulsing synths that pull you in with a disorienting amount of intimacy. It almost seems as though the song is acknowledging something you refuse to: “Under the LED moon / Don’t let your soul get so lost.”

The final song on the EP, “LED Moon (Slower),” is a direct reflection of “LED Moon” that develops a more expansive atmospheric feeling within the song.

“Don’t Kill the Vibe” differs in its approach at remaining ignorant to something that isn’t working. The track resembles a seemingly endless night that you pray drags on just a little longer: “You say I’m to blame / Sulking like a king / Tonight with me / You can’t prove me wrong.”

The verses hold a confident, almost sultry, tone that makes you want to stay just a little longer: “You say you and me / The spark is gone (you can’t prove a thing) / Just hold my glass while I prove you wrong (let me prove you wrong).” Though the confidence does little to distract from the real tension that’s hidden under the pretense of this relationship: “Faking boredom, I can feel it / Pick a fight, and I’ll dismiss it / (Don’t kill the vibe) tell yourself it’s overrated / Look at me pretend you hate it.”

“One on One” finally acknowledges what she used to be so good at hiding from: “The dawn fires warnings / On something I shouldn’t say.” The upbeat soundscape tries to cover the underlying nervousness: “The flood lights adore me / Covering my mistakes.” Ultimately, confrontation comes to a head: “Have we something to hide? / Have we nothing to hide?”

“Indigo Girl” captures the freedom of letting go and embracing the things that make you different: “She leaves the strangest impression / But you’re kinda obsessed / Can’t put your finger on how / She has you possessed.”

The song itself is delivered in a way that’s comparable to spoken word poetry set to music rather than a song that’s sung: “She tangles a sentence of that night in her hair.” Considering Joy studied poetry and literature in New York, this certain style feels more than authentic: “She trips off the beat / But she’s more on than you feel.”

With sonic references to New York, a collaboration with brother and lead singer of Inhaler, Elijah Hewson, and lyrical poetry that hits you in all the right places, LED Moon marks the beginning of an exciting new era for Jordan Joy.

Joy is slated to play at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton, England on November 12. Be sure to grab your tickets and listen to LED Moon below.