Interview with Jesse D'Kora

I had the opportunity to speak to the lovely Dan J J Parker about his project by the name of 'Jesse D'Kora'. Dan is based in Manchester making indie dream-pop, shoe-gaze inspired tracks that feel like a perfect soundtrack to a relaxed summer day In this interview, we talk about his musical process, influences, live performances and the effect COVID has had on his music. Not only this but we talk about his upcoming releases as well as his most recent single titled 'Far from Home' which you can check out on Spotify and all of the usual streaming services.

I really love where the name comes from for this project, as its something I'd never thought about. Jesse is Dan's middle name however the name D'Kora is a completely random word that essentially means it's the first result to come up when searched for.

After playing as part of a band before COVID, Dan decided to begin working on his own music. Working on his own has given him the ability to produce songs faster than he would be able to in a band as you're only relying on yourself. This has given him the opportunity to write a large backlog of songs. He has around 100 songs in this backlog with 10-15 of which that he intends to use and another 20-30 he intends to work back into. This takes the pressure off as he always has something to fall back on. Despite this, if he's going to write a new song he prefers to start from scratch.

When writing his songs he prefers to start with a bassline, guitar riff, a drum groove or chords and a melody instead of lyrics. The lyrics are the icing on the cake. But by starting each song from a different point, the process is slightly different and therefore none of the songs sound the same. He then goes back and refines each aspect of the song before adding the lyrics.There's no point using a good idea or lyrics on a song that you aren't happy with.

In terms of inspiration, especially in his latest track 'Far from Home', you can really hear the shoe-gaze influence. In particular, Dan takes a lot of influence from artists such as Slowdive, Ride, Day Wave and Hazel English. Not only this but he enjoys a lot of disco music such as CHIC , Stevie Wonder and Delegation which have inspired the baselines of some of his later tracks. The most influential however is DIIV, Dan's favourite band and the artist he'd love to l collaborate with most. A couple tracks he recommended by DIIV are 'Doused', 'Under the Sun' and 'Follow'.

Dan's plan for the future, short-term is to release another 3 tracks before the year ends and then into next year, he intends to release a new track every 3 weeks and eventually release something similar to a traditional album in the next couple years. He does intend to be able to play live again in the future when it feels right however the focus at the moment is the music.

We're really excited to see what's next! Go and stream ‘Far from Home’ and get ready for the next release to come from Jesse D’Kora, ‘Morning Light’, which comes to bless our ears on the 27th of August so keep an eye out!