Riffing with Jordan J

The 18 year old, from the Brambles has been performing since the tender age of four and his debut EP represents a major step in his fledging music career.

The production of the EP, which includes three tracks, comes after the solo artist won the best male singer category and finished second overall in the 2012 Strictly Come Singing contest in May.

He told the Times: “With the money I won in the competition it gave me the opportunity to do something worthwhile, so I decided to invest it all on the production of this EP and I am delighted with the results.”

Jordan’s style, which includes acoustic rock and indie folk, has been likened to artists such as Ed Sheeran, Chad Kroeger and Mumford and Sons.

On the EP Jordan writes, sings and plays all the instruments on the production.

He said: “It was a lot of fun getting into the studio and working on the tracks - it was hard work, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Then I had to do all the album artwork which was a great laugh.

“I wanted to show all aspects of my range and diversity on the EP so all three tracks are very different.

“It’s a bit difficult to describe my style, I try to keep it open-ended to appeal to a wide range of people, but I tend to lean towards the folky Mumford and Sons with the concept of really powerful vocals like Adele with the grunge styles of the Foo Fighters and Nickelback.

“It may sound complicated, but I think it comes across as a simple form of music.”

Incredibly Jordan has been singing and performing since the age of four when his parents picked up on his talent for music.

He continued: “My parents picked up that I had a knack for it and sent me along to piano lessons which progressed to classical singing lessons and then guitar lessons.

“And when my voice broke it came out with a more masculine grunge sound and I progressed on to popular vocals which is a more modern contemporary approach to classical teaching.

“I then learned the electric guitar and that helped mould my interest in producing the types of songs that I am today.”

As a soloist the pressure is on Jordan to put together all the elements of his music and when he takes to the stage he likes to impress audiences with his range of music skills.

He continued: “I am a perfectionist and like everything to be just right.

“On stage I try to play a lot of instruments at the same time - almost like a one man band - and that goes down very well and if it goes wrong then there is no one to blame but myself and I thrive on that pressure.

“Song writing for me is a very spontaneous thing and comes together from a very organic process.

“I can be just sitting riffing and then a chord progression will come to me, there is nothing too strenuous about it.”

Jordan is currently on a gap year and is hoping to study music technology at Queen’s next year.

He added: “The dream is to go on and be a top class performer, but I am determined to be involved in the music industry, whether that be on stage or in the background.”

Jordan’s EP is available on iTunes and more information on his music can be found at www.facebook.com/JordanJThompsonMusic.