Jayda G holds an audience in the palm of her hand, and ignites the dancefloor. You only have to see her behind the turntables to understand that the pleasure she takes in mixing, and the energy she releases, are organically communicated to the crowd. With a Masters in Resource and Environmental Management, Jayda Guy, her real name, regularly interviews ecologists, activists, oceanographers and more as part of the JMG talks, informative discussions on climate change. Living in the German capital since 2016, this Canadian-born musician (she grew up in British Columbia, and graduated in Vancouver) knows her classics – in every sense of the word – since she was trained as a child in piano and violin, and especially since her musical selections are true tributes to Chicago house, deep house, disco, soul, and jazz. Shining piano, vintage synths, 4/4 percussion, vocal interjections, vibrating bass, all filtered at will: the atmosphere is set from the very first seconds of “Both Of Us”, the first part of this two-track EP (with two remixes). The states of mind revealed by the whispered, murmured, and sometimes proclaimed lyrics are also part of a certain house heritage. With the treatment of the vocals on “Are U Down”, Jayda G proves that she is an artist anchored in her time, bringing the track closer to the R&B aesthetic. A resolutely contemporary effort.
