Jordan Reyne is an experimental musician currently residing in

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

, Poland. Jordan's sound has been variously described as "industrial-tinged folk" and "antipodean

Steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...

" yet defies any cut and dried genre description. She combines the two usually disparate genres of

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

, bringing in

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

vocal

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

, historically-based

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller (ge ...

and the sounds of steam, iron and industrial "

found sound Found objects are sometimes used in music, often to add unusual percussive elements to a work. Their use in such contexts is as old as music itself, as the original invention of musical instruments almost certainly developed from the sounds of nat ...

". Several of her releases are set in the time of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

Early life

Reyne came from England. Soon after her birth, her parents moved with her to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Reyne grew up in an isolated community on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island, 30 km south of Westport. As a teenager, Reyne moved to New Zealand's North Island where she studied software engineering at the Central Institute of Technology in Wellington. She later moved to Auckland to study philosophy at the University of Auckland before leaving for Germany in 2006. Jordan remained in Germany until 2011, when she relocated to the UK.

Musical career

Jordan Reyne's first album release (Birds of Prey) was in 1997, and earned the New Zealand born musician a Tui nomination for most promising female musician. Reyne has since released 11 more albums of her own work to critical acclaim worldwide, earning two more Tui nominations and a Sounz commendation award. Reyne's music draws on folklore and story telling to depict political themes and the lives of ordinary characters in often extraordinary situationsThe Morning Star, 01/01/2015 feature: Jordan Reyne - Strong Enough to Be Different Her use of "Found Sound," percussion and drones, often in the form of factory noise, aims at grounding the stories in their time. The album "How the Dead Live" was commissioned by the New Zealand Arts Council and Wild Creations initiative and follows the life of one of New Zealand's first pioneer women, Susannah Hawes.The Lemure Reader 08/11/09 article: Jordan Reyne on How the Dead Live The album draws on Susannah's archived letters, and the sounds of farming machinery and the environment at the time. Similarly, "Children of a Factory Nation" follows a Welsh family from the ports of Cardiff to the workhouses and Factories of London. Jordan's most recent project "Maiden, Mother, Crone" looks specifically at how pagan archetypes affect the roles and perceptions of women in the present day. Along with her own releases, Jordan has performed and written with other musicians and bands as well as featuring on projects such as

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

's Resident Evil 7: Biohazard soundtrack, written and arranged by Michael A. Levine. Her vocals also feature on releases from Cafe Del Mar, Breaks Co-op, The Strawpeople, and

The Eden House The Eden House is a collaborative musical project, initiated by Stephen Carey (formerly of This Burning Effigy and Adoration) and involving a collection of guest musicians and vocalists; later joined by Tony Pettitt (formerly of Fields of the ...

where she contributed vocals to the album "Half Life" and was part of the band's live lineup until 2014. Her own album "The Annihilation Sequence" (2013) also features the voice of Tony Pettit and the mixing / mastering of Stephen Carey from the band. Between 1999 and 2005 Jordan wrote under the moniker "Dr Kevorkian & the Suicide Machine", and also performed live under this name. Two of her CDs were also released under this title, which gained her attention and a following internationally in the

darkwave Dark wave (also typeset as darkwave) is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as be ...

and

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...

scenes, and prompted a move to Germany in 2006. As well as the dark-folk, industrial and gothic scenes, Jordan has also been involved in several notable New Zealand electronic music projects including Strawpeople,

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

's Breaks Co-op project, and Baitercell and

Schumacher Schumacher or Schuhmacher is an occupational surname (German, "shoemaker", pronounced , both variants can be used as surnames, with Schumacher being the more popular one, however, only the variant with three "h"s can also be used as a job descript ...

. Reyne also performed as a vocalist on one of the scenes in

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

's second Lord of the Rings film, in a scene that depicted Theodred's funeral. This scene, however, was not included in the final edit of the film.Click Boom Bytes - art and politics in Romanian Music
(20 October 2011)

Discography

Albums

*''Birds of Prey'' (1997), Lost Records, New Zealand. *''The Ironman'' (2000), Universal Music, New Zealand - as "Dr Kevorkian & the Suicide Machine". *''The Loneliest of Creatures'' (2002), DDV Laboratories/Mediatrix, New Zealand - as "Dr Kevorkian & the Suicide Machine". *''Passenger'' (2004), Jayrem Records/Mediatrix, New Zealand. *''How the Dead Live'' (2009). Sounz, New Zealand. *''Children of a Factory Nation'' (2012). Factory Nation / Believe Digital UK. * ''The Annihilation Sequence ''(2013). Factory Nation (UK). * ''Crone ''(2014). Factory Nation (UK). * ''Mother ''(2015). Factory Nation (UK). * ''Maiden ''(2015). Factory Nation (UK). * ''Bardo ''(2018).

Collaborations

* Breaks Co-op - "Transister" (1997) * Strawpeople - "Wire" (2004) * Baitercell and

- "Leap of Faith" (2005) *

- "Butterflies", "Indifference" and "The Tempest" - on the album "Half Life". Jungle Records (2013) * Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Original Soundtrack - "

Go Tell Aunt Rhody "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" is an English language folk song of nineteenth-century American origin. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3346. The tune is older, dating to the 18th century. It originated as a gavotte in the 1752 opera ''Le devin du ...

". Sumthing Else Music Works (2017)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyne, Jordan 1974 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand women singers 21st-century New Zealand women singers Women songwriters Musical groups established in 1997 New Zealand emigrants to Poland New Zealand songwriters