Originally from Jakarta, Indonesia, Jeia is a producer, composer, and instrumentalist who has been making music for 10 years. Before writing her own, she would record live instrumentation covers, getting recognition from thousands of listeners on YouTube. Eventually, she started performing all over Indonesia, doing live beat sets, complete with drums, guitars, keyboards and other equipment. She released countless remixes before releasing her first single, called “Hear The Drummer,” in 2016.
Around that time, she moved to Toronto, Canada, where she attended music college and continued to pursue her passions there. She had dropped a couple of incredible beat tapes, called Music in Everything Vol. 1 (2017) and Music in Everything Vol. 2 (2018), where she used everyday objects and outside sampled sounds to create lush, emotion-evoking soundscapes that transports listeners elsewhere. She did a collaborative EP with R&B/jazz singer Kats Fifth, called Overnight (2018); produced a couple songs with JFlow and Open Soul; and has performed throughout Canada.
One can’t really stamp a single label on her sound, because Jeia lets inspiration, feelings, and instrumentation fuel the direction, producing anything from hip hop and electronic soul, to funk and afrobeat. The way she manipulates sound and produces music live is all so addictively entertaining, too, and uniquely Jeia.
She has collaborated with companies like Roland, Native Instruments, Melodics, & ADSR by doing some stellar beat making sessions with various company products and sound/preset packs. She won a Metapop competition in 2019, and has also released a handful of new singles and remixes (side note: peep her beautiful remix of Madame Gandhi‘s “Bad Habits”), is constantly uploading live beat making sessions, and doing livestream sets. In fact, the latter is how I got put onto her music (back in August, I did the flyer and promotional art work for a Ladies First virtual mini first, where she had performed).
Jeia will always conjure up something that’ll move you. A perfect example of that is her first full-length album, titled Between the Lines, that released on October 2nd. Through percussion-driven, soul-soothing instrumentation, she keeps your mind clear and body relaxed while taking you through a raw, honest story of personal growth. All 12 beats were created between 2019-2020, during a time when she hit rock bottom, but eventually coming out of that emotional slump with a renewed confidence. Listening to it in order, as recommended, it clocks in around 22 minutes in length. My personal favorites are “The Illusion of Time”, “Anime Girl”, “Scat”, “Take It Easy”, “Breeze”, “The Deeper It Gets”, and “Listen to this With Your Eyes Closed”. Stream it below via the Bandcamp player, or on any other digital spot.
I call it “Between The Lines” because often times I have trouble putting my thoughts into words. It took me longer than most people to come up with things to say. I’m not a good debater, for sure. I suck at Twitter. But when words failed as a means to communicate, music always worked.
These are the beats that I made when I hit rock bottom and climbed back up. When I lost hope and restored faith. The beats that I made when I shut my brain off, get on the instrument, press ‘record’, and see what happens. Because f**k perfect. 99% of the time making music is about capturing the moment. I always remember what I felt, what was on my mind, or who I was thinking about when I made each beat. Almost like taking a photograph – but with your mental state.
Writing these beats helped me heal. Hope this tape feels like a warm hug.
Jeia, taken from her Bandcamp
PURCHASE
Follow Jeia:
