Dora Jar Talks All Things Imagination in Press Conference
Dora Jar for No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire via Spotify.
Since the release of her debut album last month, budding indie pop icon Dora Jar has been on fire.
Born Dora Jarkowski, the California-based singer and songwriter gained traction after opening for Billie Eilish in 2022 and The 1975 in 2023. Now, Jarkowski is following the release of her record, No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire, with a 14-show headlining tour.
As she drove to her Oct. 5 gig in Denver, Jarkowski discussed the creative process, inspirations and deeper meanings behind the explorative album in a press conference hosted by º1824 on Friday.
Wearing orange-tinted sunglasses and a green wristband, Jarkowski exuded a colorful personality as she explained the influences behind the visuals associated with No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire. The album’s cover art portrays Jarkowski in the foreground of an apocalyptic landscape, with blurry black stairs ascending in front of a pink and orange background reminiscent of a sunset. She said the cover is a direct reference to the “Mary Poppins” scene where Mary Poppins pokes a chimney with her umbrella to create a staircase from its smoke.
“That sticks out to me because in the creation of this album I was very obsessed with contradictions in myself and smoke as a staircase is a big contradiction as something that lifts but is not grounded,” Jarkowski said. “It’s a visceral symbol.”
A smoky sky also backdrops the Spotify vertical videos, YouTube visualizers and promo photos featured on Jarkowski’s Instagram, creating a universe of psychedelic illustrations. She said this imagery answers the pressing question of “Who am I?” that appears throughout the album: like a swirling sky, she is “ever changing.”
Similar to her persona, Jarkowski’s songwriting is flexible. From the gentle acoustics in “Holy Water” to the hyper-electric bounciness of “Smoke Out the Window” and unapologetically freeing indie rock sound of “No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire,” she said she wanted the album to feel like a funhouse.
“I want every room to be radically different but all part of the same house,” Jarkowski said.
While the record refuses to conform to one genre sonically, Jarkowski’s imaginative lyricism is a constant thread across all 13 tracks. With lyrics like “Rough water is still water no matter how much it moves” from opening track “This Is Why,” she said she intentionally writes symbolic and ambiguous lyrics to allow listeners to make their own connections to her music.
“There’s infinite ways to feel one emotion,” Jarkowski said.
She said this holistic thinking is a result of inspirations like Julie Andrews’s children’s novel, “The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.” The world evoked in No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire emulates the alternate dimension created in the book’s imagination machine. She said her imagination fills any gaps in her understanding of the world, a notion reflected in the illustrative storytelling of the album.
As she prepares for the last handful of shows on the Behind The Curtain tour, Jarkowski reflected on the ever-evolving nature of performing the album. She said the show changes with each city based on the audience’s energy. Yet, there are some moments that never get old for Jarkowski on tour, like looking at the faces of the crowd during the poignant track “Debbie Darling” and meeting fans after each gig.
“It’s all about just being in the moment and letting the audience lead us to new exciting places,” Jarkowski said.
You can listen to No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire on streaming platforms and purchase tickets for the final few shows of tour here.