Jordan Reyne Creative Arts

Jordan Reyne - Bio & Background

From the Land of Lord of the Rings..;)
After a show in Hamburg in 2009, Jordan was asked by two young fans where she was from. On answering that she was from New Zealand, one of the boys looks confused. The other, seeing his companions confusion, nudged him in the ribs, saying,

"New Zealand! That's where the hobbits are from, idiot. She's from Lord of the Rings!"

Having also sung on the scene for Theodreds funeral in Lord of the Rings (which sadly remains in the editing room floor) these two boys were none the less the reason that Jordan's biography can start as it does...

Hailing from the land of Lord of the Rings, Jordan Reyne's sound is a blend of celtic / pagan vocals, and factory sound rhythms. Jordan is arguably most well known for her vocal contribution to Resident Evil 7, Her own music is described by the BBC (UK) as "simply stunning." The New Zealand born musician blends the magical with the dark, the frightening with the beautiful. Imagine Sinead O'connor meets the Wickerman... at least, for some albums! With 12 internationally reviewed albums to her credit, Reyne's style is actually hard to pin down. Passenger and The Annihilation Sequence are electronic albums, The Ironman is grunge rock. The rest span folk-rock, avant-garde and celtic. Reviewers have this to say.
"one of the most extraordinarily fascinating live shows I have ever seen on stage... one of the best – if not the best – folk performers out there today... she’s spellbinding". Cat on the Wall, at Whitby Goth Weekend (UK)
"[A] remarkable talent.. in a category all of her own. She's a force of nature" Prog Magazine (UK)
Above: Tauraga Bay, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, where Jordan grew up.

How to Build a Band-Sound, without a band

Jordan loves good tech! She uses two Digitech Harmann Jamman loop machines to sample her own voice and guitar in the moment of performance. This means no live performance is ever exactly the same. Reyne is so enamored with loop machines that she offered online tutorials in looping. The videos for the Digitech-Harman and TC Helicon loopers are still available on her youtube channel. Live, she builds up layers of harmony and rhythm, woving in lyrics that are a mixture of folkloric and political. Both her voice and lyrics call on the ancient only to twist it at the throat into something new and "utterly bequiling" (Gig Junkies, UK). Then there are the open tunings. Jordan perfoms live in DADGAD, an old folk tuning, that adds to the uniqueness of her music. New Zealand's National Radio described her as the author of a new sound.

Awards and Notable Shows

Jordan is a 3 time Tui Award (New Zealand Grammy) nominee, and 3 time nominee for the Torun music awards in Poland. Reyne has lent her voice to projects from Cafe Del Mar through to Lord of the Rings and Resident Evil.
Jordan's wide appeal and uncategorizable style has led to supports for bands as diverse as Feilds of the Nephilim, New Model Army, White Zombie, the Eden House and Polish superstars T-Love. Her festival appearances include Glastonbury (UK), The New Zealand International Festival of the Arts (NZ), Wave Gothic Treffen (Germany), The Big Day Out (NZ / Aus), Frankfurt Music Messe (Germany), Soundedit (Poland), Whitby Gothic Weekend and many more.

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Early Life and Travel

Jordan grew up on a remote peninsula on New Zealand's west coast, 3 hours drive from the nearest city. She began making music by collecting junk and discarded farm implements, banging them together and singing at the top of her lungs. When her parents could stand it no longer, they bought her a guitar. Her parents left for Wellington shotly after, but Reyne's sense of connection to nature, and the technology we adopt into it remain a key part of her work.
A tumultuous family life meant that Reyne had moved a total of 7 times by the time she reached highschool. The constant moves sparked a wanderlust that was solidified by Jordan's guitar teacher, who had moved from Germany to New Zealand shortly after Chernobyl. Jordan developed a passion for languages and first left her homeland for Germany in 2003. After returning breifly to New Zealand to finish a degree in Philosophy and Sociology she returned to Europe in 2005. She has remained there since.
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Jordan has lived and toured in Germany, the UK and Poland, as well as performing outside those countries in the USA, Japan and the Netherlands. She speaks German and Polish and uses both daily, residing on the border of Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany. Her now hometown of Goerlitz/ Zgorzelec has two names as half of it lies in Poland, and the other half in Germany. The town is the setting of her song "Borderlands" on her 12th album "Chapter Zero," where the town was once again devided by armed soldiers during the first wave of the Covid pandemic.

From the Land of Lord of the Rings..;)

How to Build a Band-Sound, without a band

Awards and Notable Shows

Early Life and Travel

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