Jordan Laser has unveiled her latest single ‘Battleship’, a brooding, simmering pop cut. ‘Battleship’ is a silky, self-aware track built on a backbone of alt-rock.
“‘Battleship’ is about both disillusionment and acceptance,” says Jordan. “On the one hand, the fantasy of who you wanted someone to be has caught up with the reality of who they really are and that’s an incredibly painful realisation. On the other hand, you’re accepting your fate…you’ve chosen this and so there’s some part of you that is coming into a state of grace about that.
I was feeling pretty lost and lovelorn when I wrote it. You want a rescue squad, but then you realise that no one is coming. Or maybe the person who is coming isn’t a very good swimmer. Either way you’re on your own, falling back onto yourself.”
The track arrives with a sumptuous, Pete Majarich-directed music video. To celebrate the release, we got Jordan Laser to talk us through the five songs that inspired ‘Battleship’. Pop on the video below and see what she had to say.
Check out ‘Battleship’ by Jordan Laser:
Portishead – ‘Glorybox’
I have this classic to thank for my love of 90s trip hop. I adore every sound and word in this song, down to the last vinyl crackle. I love that her voice can be smooth one minute and rough the next. I love the combination of crunchy broken beats, eerie strings and weird sounds that are a total mystery to my ear. And then underneath it all this heartfelt plea for equality from a woman to a man. Whenever I’ve found myself in that exhausting love-game cycle this song is there for me.
The Church – ‘Under The Milky Way’
When I think of the perfect song this is the one that comes to mind.
That melody always leaves me wanting more. The lyrics always fill me with a sense of wonderment. And those shimmering guitars are the reason Am F G is my favourite chord progression. I also love the story of how this song came together. The fact that it was written by Steve Kilbey and his wife on a balcony one night in about 5 minutes makes it that much more romantic and magical.
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Björk – ‘All Is Full Of Love’
This song just wraps me up in a blanket of love and makes me feel like everything is going to be okay. It’s almost like she’s protecting us in it, but also encouraging us to jump into the unknown and trust the invisibility of it all. There’s something transcendent in the melody too, like it wasn’t written by a mere mortal. Then there’s the production which is just full of treasures I’ll never understand…sounds that are of this world but not from it. And the robots kissing in the music video always makes me cry in a happy way. What an incredible fusion of emotion and technology.
Paul Kelly – ‘Little Kings’
A song from my childhood that I returned to again recently. That beautiful opening melody with his plaintive falsetto is the most perfect of mixtures. Musically it’s soft and simple, and then there are these lyrics that are just drenched with barely-concealed indignation. It’s a song that sings to you on bended knee, begging you to feel a sense of responsibility for your fellow country, countrymen and women. When I listen to it I often hear my Dad saying to me ‘why don’t you try and write about something other than love, like PK’.
Bonny Light Horseman – ‘Deep In Love’
Someone I care about showed me this recently and it brought me undone. It’s one of the purest, most beautiful love songs I’ve ever heard. And with just guitars and vocals, it reminds me that sometimes less is so much more.
It starts at a slow trot and then it turns into a canter. A version of that refrain ‘don’t you break my heart’ has probably been sung in every valley, on every continent, since the beginning of time. This is one of those really special songs that speaks to every heart that has been broken, or is about to be broken.
You can follow Jordan Laser here.
