Decoded: Jaz Karis

Decoded is back with episode 5, this time soul singer Jaz Karis joins us on the sofa.

Filmed in-studio, we invite a CLASH co-signed artist into the studio, dissecting their creative process through a thoughtful interrogation of influences, themes and iconography.

Karis grew up on a profusion of choir, soca and soul at home in South London; vivid nostalgia forming the base of her heartrending notes on love and life as she pursued a career in music. Her 2017 project ‘Into The Wilderness’ signalled the arrival of a new next-gen voice in UK RnB; the project luxuriated in wistful late-night reveries and on pre-pandemic follow-up ‘Summer Stories’ Karis solidified her place as forerunner of the scene, tapping into end-of-summer romance with melodic precision and directness of emotion.

Karis grapples with fragments of memory on new EP, ‘Side Of You’. Featuring a series of intimate diaristic conversations with her younger self, ‘Side Of You’ is a full circle reckoning as Karis reconciles the fairy-tale ending she grew up craving with the grounded realism of true life experience.  

In conversation, Karis shares how she’s been upheld by her collaborators and the wider UK RnB community throughout her career, the trauma she had to unpack in order to access her truth and why ‘Side Of You’ is the soft reboot to the next phase of her career.

Tune into the conversation…

—

Karis performs at Patterns in Brighton, and the Jazz Cafe early next year. Get tickets here.

Check out previous Decoded episodes with George Riley, Hak Baker and Jeshi.

—