SJ CORA Bohemian Indie Sound
Bio
If you ask SJ Cora what her perfect home would look like, the answer you’ll get with a smile is: “It needs to have wheels or at least wings.” In her case, settling in is all about setting off on new adventures.
As the child of an Irish mother and a German father, her inherent urge to travel is regularly soothed but never fully satisfied when setting foot on the Emerald Isle. The whole point of SJ Cora’s journey is not to arrive but to enjoy the sights and to develop along the way. It’s a constant balancing act between passions and styles of music, between home comforts and the adventures of life, those which can only be discovered when travelling the world and only captured through musical instruments.
This creates music. Like a rope. Tied between two trees firmly rooted in different universes. SJ Cora manages to navigate it elegantly – small, delicate, graceful and virtuosic, while evoking a sense of amazing power and energy. Inspired by musicians such as Ana Ternheim, PJ Harvey, Björk and, needless to say, SJ Cora herself, her work achieves a delightful balance which momentarily appears to transform piano, guitar and violin strings into sturdy, two-way bridges.
“My heart beats to an Irish tune, while my mind thinks German,” says SJ Cora passionately.
SJ Cora has sent her heart, this small compass, motor and window to emotions and feelings, on numerous journeys, thereby putting it in a pensive mood: She always follows its direction. SJ Cora thus bucks the trend of the times: Real affairs of the heart are not generally the best starting point when it comes to developing a strategic and ambitious marketing concept. But they are, nonetheless, real and original.
When searching for a new violin, the trained musician travelled to Switzerland, where she set up camp. And because her heart told her to do so, she instinctively caught a plane to Nashville/Tennessee and recorded her first solo album “Another World” there. Whilst touring through Germany, she fell in love with the drummer of her band. Her heart said “yes” and put a stop to any strategic plans she may have had. In the future, the tour bus will need to accommodate a baby changing bag, too.
A chance meeting with the exceptional artist Paul Wallfisch led to the album “Automagic”, which was produced in Berlin, NYC, Krefeld and Essen and features many renowned musicians, including Larry Mullins aka Tobi Dammit (Iggy Pop/ Nick Cave), Christian Bongers (BOTANICA), Geoffrey Burton (Sophie Hunger), Martin Wenk (Calexico) as well as members of the Essen Philharmonic Orchestra.
In an intuitive, down-to-earth and experimental manner, SJ Cora bridges the gap perfectly between classical music, folk, rock and the in-your-face, rebellious sounds of independent and alternative genres. The feeling of being right when you follow your own built-in compass is there for all to see.
As a synesthet, her world is bright and colourful; a world without boundaries between colours, movements and sounds. Art in all its forms – for SJ Cora, it’s a unique and utterly amazing feeling. She now wishes to share this with others and has started combining various art forms such as modern dance and painting with her music during live performances, describing it as a “bohemian indie sound”.
Currently part of this cosmos is the astonishing artist Tanja Prill. She fills canvas after canvas with SJ Cora’s poetic texts and her portrayals of quirky daily life that are guaranteed to get everyone dancing.
Following your heart means being open: SJ Cora has decided to go down her own path. Where will it lead to? Instead of knowing, she’d rather be surprised by whatever it may have in store for her.
SJ Cora is currently working on a music video for her songs from AUTOMAGIC and putting a live band together. Her first single is scheduled for release in the summer of 2018.
Press Photos
