NEWS

Zoe Sky Jordan wedded to her music, her love

Zoe Sky Jordan loves her new home in Nashville, but the former Rosedale and Forest Hill denizen often wishes it were in Canada, given the political climate these days.

The daughter of Canadian chanteuse Amy Sky is seated close to the exit of a Yonge and Lawrence coffee shop. She’s back in Toronto to visit family and throw in a show on Halloween at the Dakota with Beams and Fern Tips.

“I took for granted living in a multicultural city like Toronto,” she says, high school kids buzzing about. “L.A. is pretty multicultural too. There’s no expectation when you meet someone, but there is an expectation that you’re a Christian in Nashville.”

That’s a new experience for her. What’s also a new experience for her is marriage. In another year she’ll be tying the knot with partner Liam Russell (also known as Titcomb). The two met five years ago through Zoe’s mom.

She’s in Nashville living with him, working on music and playing 8 off 8th. She releases singles one at a time these days, which given the music industry’s transition from CDs to Spotify, fits the mood just right.

“It’s so fun to put together a collection of songs, but for now I’m just putting out random songs,” she admits. “I noticed in my press cycle, everyone was, ‘Oh my god, a single. Oh my god, a single.’ And then when the album comes out, they’re like, ‘Who cares?’”

Relationships have factored hugely into her lyrics. Her recent single, “For Granted” is her reflecting on her relationship with Russell.

“I think it’s really easy when something is good to not notice it,” she admits. “We’ve been together for five years. You get into a pattern with somebody. A lot of relationships there tends to be a flower and a gardener, and I tend to be the flower. He does a lot of the work.”

Previous singles, off her album Topiary, have talked about her relationships with the women in her life and foretold of her engagement. She sat down with one of her good friends for a dinner, talking about life.

The song “Powerlines” is what came from that. A single that explores the fact that at 26, she wasn’t a kid anymore.

“I don’t really know what kids my age do. All my friends are older than me,” Jordan says. “I don’t know if I should be dicking around living out of a suitcase. The generation before was just so different.”

Regardless, through her words, she works it out, empowers herself by her own means. Her trip to Los Angeles, and finding a home in Nashville brought her home.

“I felt like a turtle carrying everything on their back,” she says. “That caused me to reflect on what I brought to the table and what felt like home when I was away from home.”

That resonates, personally and musically, and for the former Torontonian, home is where her partner is, and, “It’s anywhere I can close the door and have some space.”