PHOTOGRAPHY BY DECLAN KELLY

I. JORDAN has had a hell of a summer. It’s been a hell of a year, actually. Releasing their first album last May, moving in a circle of extremely successful recording artists featuring, and touring it internationally, they’ve become a mainstay on queer and secular line-ups alike – making them one of the most booked, busy and exciting artists in the world right now. And “in the world” is not just a lazy end to a sentence, but reference to the fact that they have literally played the four corners of it: New York, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, a festival Alsisar, Rajastha, the north-western region of India… These are just highlights from a list of destinations a journalist hates to try to summarise.

Not to get all “trans joy” about it, but this interview set out to skip past issues of identity that usually feature in Jordan’s interviews, and focus on some of that success and the experiences it has brought, and most importantly, love. Their love of “stupid dance music”, their cat, their two long term partners and (are you ready for the unpredictable last item on the list?) custard. Fittingly then, their next release Free Falling is all about love, long distance love, familial love and falling in love with their own music.

It’s the Thursday after the late August bank holiday when we join our Zoom call – it’s a weekend that marks the end of summer and could be a bit of a downer, but Jordan is on a high from the euphoria of the long weekend.

Alright, first things first. How was your bank holiday weekend?

I had a wonderful bank holiday weekend, I am feeling lots of love and happiness from it, still trying to ride the wave of joy that I felt whilst DJing [at Body Movements] on Sunday.

I was there, you looked happy and relaxed behind the decks. It was beautiful and euphoric from the dance floor. How was it from where you were?

I’m glad that I look like I was relaxed, because behind the decks I’m like, ‘Don’t fuck this up… Don’t fuck this up.’ The set was streamed and will be up on Resident Advisor, so it felt like a big moment. [Body Movements] were saying, ‘You’re only allowed four people in the booth,’ and I was like, ‘No… everyone’s in the booth. We’re all here.’ There were so many people dancing in the booth I had to hold the decks down. It was slightly chaotic, but absolutely beautiful. I’m really glad that you said it was euphoric, because that was the vibe that I was trying to go for: sunshine, in a park, queer festival. I want everyone to turn around to the person stood next to give them a fucking hug.