Noa Jordan is a Nashville singer songwriter formerly of Pittsburgh. Sound Scene Express is pleased to premiere the video for “Heart’s Resolve” from her album The Lost Boys. Jordan is the only person featured in the video but she does have a full band. Jordan says, “they’re all equally important to my music because of their creativity and who they are as people. We’re a four-piece band, and each member brings such a unique perspective on the melodies and sounds that makes us distinctly different than other groups, not to mention the pretty cool three-part harmonies that are utilized.” The band consists of Noa Jordan, on electric/acoustic guitar and lead vocals, Amanda Scrimale on keys and background vocals, Tyler Cornelius on bass and background vocals and Kyle Jefferson on drums. See the video and our interview with Noa Jordan below!
Sound Scene Express: When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
Noa Jordan: Our band came together during a school-related music program Tyler, Amanda, and I attended in the spring of 2014 in Nashville. There were about 30 students total and based on random pairings, the three of us found ourselves teamed up. We discovered pretty early on that we meshed really well and through a series of events that lined up, we all chose to move to Nashville to pursue music. And we all decided we wanted to do that together. After almost a year of tightening our sound as a trio, we had Kyle play with u s for the first time through the recommendation of a friend. He locked in with us almost immediately and has been our exclusive drummer since earlier this year.
SSE: Who writes your song lyrics? What is your/their inspiration?
NJ: I tend to be the one to write the lyrics for the music, and the inspiration is pretty all over the place. For the most recent record, a lot of it stemmed from looking ahead to dropping out of school, moving away from my home, and going to Nashville to pursue music. There were a lot of unanswered questions that I needed to process, so I did that through the writing process. More recently though, I’ve taken different situations and scenarios (some that I’ve experienced and some that I’ve seen others experience) and put those to music.
SSE: What is the inspiration behind your new music video?
NJ: What we really wanted to do in this video is portray my more tender and empathetic side. A
lot of the music we do is very intense and rock-based, and I rarely tap into romanticism and
the idea of love through songs. So it was important for us to give people something to watch
and be able to connect with me on a more personal level. Kind of to help them say “Yeah, she’s
definitely bad-ass but there are so many more dimensions to her and her songs.”
SSE: What is Heart’s Resolve about?
NJ: There are a lot of love songs circulating around the internet and the radio, so I wanted to approach a love song understanding two pretty critical ideas about love songs:
1. Everything that can be said has already been said, and
2. Love is an action and a choice, not just a feeling.
So I took these two things and brought some imagery into the picture to help people visualize what I
was trying to say while also trying to convey that if you want a truly successful relationship, it’s about
being committed and communicating that you are willing to love who you’re with enough to put that effort
in, even though the real thing is hardly ever like a romanticized love song.
SSE: You just released The Lost Boys, do you have anything else in the works?
NJ: We’re revving up to release this performance video of Heart’s Resolve, and we just filmed a concept music-video to the song “Momentum (Carry On),” which we’re re-releasing as a single within the next month or so. After that, I’ll be writing and writing to track a song to release as a single some time in the fall. But honestly, that’s as far into the future as I can look right now. I get so overwhelmed thinking about anything past that.
SSE: Do you come back to Pittsburgh often?
NJ: Luckily, I’ve been able to return to Pittsburgh at least a few times each year since I’ve moved. I absolutely love the city of Pittsburgh and try to play shows there and just visit as much as I can.
SSE: Were you part of any bands in Pittsburgh? If so which ones?
NJ: I wasn’t a part of a band in Pittsburgh, but I was very actively involved in leading worship at my church in Aliquippa.
SSE: Do you have any thoughts on the Pittsburgh music scene?
NJ: The music scene in Pittsburgh is incredibly impressive. The crowds are always receptive and encouraging and love good music. And the promoters and bars have always been great about getting solid acts to play in the city.
SSE: How does Pittsburgh’s music scene differ from Nashville?
NJ: People in Pittsburgh are much more responsive to shows in a positive way. Reactions are always bigger, and audiences are just overall more lively and engaged, whereas in Nashville people are insanely critical. Everyone here does music insome capacity so everyone knows a little bit about every part of the industry. It’s almost like everyone’s a critic and no one is a crowd.
SSE: Is there anything else you would like to add?
NJ: People are always, always going to tell you what they think you should do. Someone is always going to have a formula or the “next logical step” for you. And there’s always going to be pressure to do the responsible thing. Please, be responsible. But don’t be miserable. Chase after what you love, because you know what you were made to do. You better than anyone else know what your passion is. Find what your thing is and go after it. It’s so worth it.
