Dora Jar - 'Spell'
On-the-rise alt-pop artist Dora Jar bewitches us with new single “Spell”.
The artist’s latest offering is a delicate and dazzling number. It follows on from her previous single Bump, which has an electro-pop based sound, whereas Spell is more stripped-back and exposed.
Releasing her debut EP Digital Meadow in 2021, Jar has gone from strength to strength musically. Her sophomore EP Comfortably in Pain came out in March, and since then she has supported Billie Eilish on tour.
Spell opens with distant, faraway vocalisations and airy acoustic guitar arrangements, setting the ethereal, other-worldly tone for the song. The lyrics are wonderfully vague at times; “Tell me something/Misty morning/As the moon falls down again” she sings, with crystal clearness, and dotted with contemplation at others; “Storm is brewing/Birds are cooing/Sometimes I howl”
The track has themes of nature running through it and carries the implication that we are all part of something greater.
Dora herself says of the origins of the song: “Spell is a song about the feeling of calm before the storm, a pensive reflection and anticipation of change, a wish for a deeper understanding of nature, and a yearning to know my role within the ebb and flow.”
Jar’s vocal performance is arresting and angelic alongside the dainty acoustic guitar and distortion that comes near the end of the track, all coming together to paint a vivid picture of everything she’s singing about. As the listener, it feels like you’re taking a leisurely stroll through an enchanted forest on a crisp Autumn day, colours of red, orange, and brown all around, the smell of damp leaves in the air.
Spell is a sparkling, luminous track that has a calming and hypnotic effect on the listener. Dora Jar has successfully put us under.
Words by Lucy Skeet
