jazzygold – day off (2023)
While jazzygold may be a new project, the artist behind it is by no means a newbie to the music scene. With the band JASMIN, Jasmin Mote (also known as jazzygold) played concerts in Norway, Denmark, Iceland and her native Faroe Islands. Along with two EPs and performances at numerous festivals, the award-winning JASMIN turned heads across Europe; however, Mote felt it was time to step away and explore something different. May I present Mote’s solo project jazzygold.
As an individual of Kenyan roots living in the icy Faroe Islands, Mote is a woman of colour who did not have anyone to mirror during her earlier years. One can imagine the difficulties a person with an African background can have in the cold, dark Nordic region. This is one of the reasons why, according to Mote, she decided to begin this project; for the “younger generation in her country and around the world to relate to her music and see someone who looks like her make it in the real world, even though you’re from a tiny little place called the Faroe Islands”.
After two years of creating, honing and planning her music, Mote released her first singles as jazzygold this year. Following her well-received single ‘lonely afterparties’, ‘day off’ is a soothing jazz-infused single with a kick of pop floating beneath the arrangement. Unlike previous singles like ‘lonely afterparties’ and ‘boring like me’, the new single is softer, more melodic and chilled-out rather than upbeat RnB flavours.
The melody itself is smooth with a relaxing tone but it is Mote’s silky vocals that make the song. As slick as satin with a rich warmth woven through, the soulful songstress can sing alongside Sade, Desree and Alicia Keys. I find it particularly intriguing how the melody elegantly lines up alongside the theme as if Mote wants to enhance the message within the instrumentation. Mote explains:
“‘day off’ is a reminder to myself and everyone else who can relate that it should be okay to take a day off, or a week, or years, or a whole lifetime if that’s what you need… I can often feel bad when I don’t do shit cause it feels like I’m falling behind, so I end up using the whole day to stress about those things AND still not doing shit…”
In addition to the single, jazzygold released an official music video for ‘day off’. You can view the video below or on her YouTube channel.
Find out more about jazzygold on her Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
Discover more soulful RnB tracks on The Other Side Reviews RnB playlist:
