Dora Jar is “your favorite zoomer artist’s favorite zoomer artist,” or something to that effect, cited as an inspiration and peer by a host of rising pop stars like Holly Humberstone and Remi Wolf; as of late, she’s been opening for Billie Eilish on the Happier Than Ever tour. It’s a reputation the 24-year-old singer-songwriter earned off her kaleidoscopic debut EP Digital Meadow, which exhibited impressive range, progressing from winding folk and distorted rock (“Multiply”) to offbeat, Sugar Ray-style pop (“Polly”) to minimal trap and R&B (“Wizard”). Many of Jar’s contemporaries gravitate toward plain, relatable lyrics, but the singer absorbs the fanciful logic of fairy tales and deploys kooky, seemingly made-up phrases. “Fratica patica automatica/I won’t slow down,” she sings on “Polly,” a blur of quirked-up consonants.
“It’s Random,” the latest single off of Jar’s upcoming EP Comfortably in Pain, concerns itself with the aimlessness and absurdity of everyday life in the pandemic. Guided by Jar’s sweet, flickering voice, which sometimes resembles Faye Webster’s, the song at first floats along like a dream. “All of my cloudy friends are flying high/Now all I can say is ‘Hey’/What a fucking beautiful parade,” Jar sings over fingerpicked guitar, gazing at the puffs in the sky. Detonating at the chorus, the song roams from bobbing indie folk to crashing rock reminiscent of St. Vincent. Jar’s attention shifts from a waving neighbor to the interiority of strangers walking to a knot-tying tutorial. “I better prepare or I’ll be lost in the plot,” she sings. But getting lost is her essence, and as she wanders through dreamscapes and sounds, she treads an enchanting path.
