Ready to Come Along: A Conversation with Dora Jar
Photography by Erica Snyder
Dora Jar opens her heart to those that want to listen. Born in New York and raised in California, the 26-year-old singer/songwriter draws inspiration from the curiosity and intricacies of life. I caught up with Dora briefly over the phone before her concert at Schubas Tavern back in late 2022, right in the middle of her North American Tour. We chatted about the year thus far, staying grounded, and inspirations that seem to hide in plain sight.
You dropped your second EP Comfortably in Pain in March, three singles, and now you’re on your first North American tour. 2022’s been quite a year. How are you?
I’m doing great, thank you for asking. It has been pretty wild and nonstop I would say. There’s also this amazing sense of choice that I’m really feeling for the first time in a while where I have all these things behind me now, and two main bodies of work that are pretty varied in vibes. I feel this new opening, new choices to be made, and new landscapes to explore within my sound.
I see your life having a lot of movement tucked into it—I understand you were born in NYC, moved to Northern California, and are currently living in London to work on your career, yes? Does the city fit into your artistic aspirations well?
I’m on tour, and I was on tour in September, so even though I’m technically based somewhere, it doesn’t really feel that way in the moment. I love London and I love having my little nest there, I hope to go back there.
With this constant flow of energy and movement in your life, how do you keep yourself grounded?
I write in a book. I don’t try to make sense. I think I usually get more confused if I try to make sense, and I want to make room for another entity for consciousness to come through. The words I scribble helps me connect the dots with how I’ve grown, what I want to do, and go deeper into myself. Writing is a constant source of grounding.
I think that leads well into my next question. A lot of your songs cover the human experience, and they intertwine with this mystical aura… articulating your thoughts in this way requires a lot of vulnerability and heart. What does sharing parts of yourself with others mean to you, and what does that feel like?
I don’t know if it’s sharing parts of myself with others, and more that I’m revealing parts of a greater collective self. In a lot of ways, I don’t relate to myself. I’ll be skeptical of the things I’m feeling sometimes, and if I have an emotional breakthrough will I be vulnerable… when I’m unsure of how I’m feeling, I’ll stay a bit hidden. The sharing happens in the dark, if that makes sense. The real vulnerable aspect of what’s going on currently is seeing people who come to the shows singing along. I feel so grateful to see them expressing, and mirroring back to me the things we feel. Knowing there are deeply personal feelings involved. Any lyric can mean a million different things to various people, and then I get to discover new meanings through them. It’s really all in the shows… the vulnerability. The writing is just guessing, and is also a bit mystical. That’s the greatest part of life—the mystery, and giving up power to a greater source of inspiration that can take over and take our bodies into cooler creation.
Where do you draw inspiration?
Yeah man, you make your most intimate music when you’re vulnerable. I think a lot of music now-a-days today has that missed feeling of vulnerability. However, I can implement my insecurities into my music that is also featured on Sancuatury. I am a hopeless romantic so it can be a good and bad thing sometimes when love gets me in trouble. You know how crazy love is.
What’s a hope you have for your future self?
To stay guided by inner truths and what is important to me. To keep my heart open, and don’t close it over anything.