Rising singer-songwriter Ava Joe talks finding her sound, presenting her sonic melting pot, and the making of her debut EP, “Try Me”.

“The danger, it excites me,” Ava Joe croons on the title track on her debut EP — and it’s telling. There’s mystery and cinema to five-pronged project “Try Me”. Through her vivid songwriting and the expressive use of her voice, she sews together tapestries of late night mischief, love-struck duress, and off-kilter romanticism. The backdrops are soulful, groove-laden, consuming, slickly produced and intricately performed, the ideal sonic ground for Joe’s conflicting musings. 

The 23-year-old is stamping her presence into the Metropolitan market, and with this inaugural body of music shows herself to be fearless and full of fervour. Below, Wonderland get to know her a little better. 

Listen to the EP…

Read the interview…

Who inspires and informs your artistry? 

I grew up on a lot of rock music and I think that has really stayed with me in a way. You might not think it by listening to my music, but there are definitely elements of Radiohead and Nirvana in there. Jazz found me somewhere along the way too, and artists like Billie Holiday and Amy Winehouse really shaped my artistry. They both possess a kind of melancholic eeriness in their music which is something that speaks to me – so naturally, my music encapsulates that too.

How did you find the musical palette you wanted to fit within? Did it occur naturally or come through creative trial and error? 

It happened pretty naturally for me. All the experiences I write about have a certain type of sadness or darkness to them, so understandably when writing, the music and melodies usually reflect that feeling in sound and song too. 

Your sound is a melting pot of sonic approaches, but what lies at the core of it? What is your artistic essence? 

My artistic essence is my essence as a person. I am a 23-year-old young woman who writes about her life almost like it’s art itself. My artistic essence is turning something not so pretty into poetry. I’ve always said I make music for others who have gone through their own troubles; I hope they hear my music and feel heard and understood by me. Life isn’t always pretty – but music is. 

Congratulations on your debut EP, “Try Me”! How are you feeling about the release? 

So many emotions – but I am mainly feeling very proud, very lucky and very excited to be sharing a body of work with the world. 

Talk us through the creative process of the project. What was challenging? What worked well?

Surprisingly, I didn’t really find it much of a challenge. The EP sort of came together very naturally. Over the past few years, I have had a very turbulent time, so I didn’t fall short on experiences and emotions to write about. I’ve spent the past year working with some incredible producers and writing with them has unlocked different parts of my creativity which has been one of my favourite parts of the process. 

What does the EP tackle thematically?

Try Me is about an era of my life in which I felt very lost within myself. I was making bad decisions and choosing the wrong men. It got to a point where I would almost challenge myself to see how far I could take the chaos or how much danger I could withstand. In the project I am asking danger/destruction to “try me” and all of the songs were written during this period of time in which I was chasing a dark kind of thrill. It’s also my first project, so I suppose Try Me also introduces my world as an artist, like you’re trying me for the first time too.

There’s a cinematic quality that flows through the EP. In what ways are you inspired by visuality and film? 

Usually, when I make a song, I can already see what the visual looks or feels like. The song and the visual almost come hand in hand for me. I am drawn to classic films and classic aesthetics. Musically, many of my inspirations are from an older era too, so it only makes sense to dive into that.

What do you think the EP achieves? What do you want listeners to take from it? 

I want people to know they are not alone in what they are going through. I want people to feel understood. If this can be achieved even for one person, then I have done my job. 

What else have you got coming this year?

Lots of shows and my first festival run which is super exciting. I’ll be very much in the studio too doing what I love the most. Maybe the beginning of a new project?

What are your long-term goals?

I want to change the future of music.