Some transitions in life are just meant to be, just like lifelong nicknames that morph beautifully into stage monikers that reflect an artist’s musical vision. When Jordan Coffing was a small child, her parents would put her in a jumper in the doorway and she’d bounce around like crazy to Disney and other pop music. The emerging singer-songwriter subsequently became “roo” (short for “kangaroo”) and variations thereof, and her musical passions became deeper more eclectic over time – all of which leads her now to emerge as RHU.
It’s a name and branding concept as compelling and coolly enigmatic as the fresh hybrid vibe she’s created out of her simultaneous love for jazz, dense vocal harmonies and indie rock. Driven by her graceful yet commanding vocal presence, her debut EP Transitioning finds RHU jumping along to a more sophisticated groove and a rich palette of stylistic influences she simply calls “indie jazz.”
The title track, which artfully blends RHU’s dreamy, soulful vocals with an angular, percussive hipster jazz groove, centers on changes in a personal relationship. Yet the singer chose to name the project Transitioning to reflect greater shifts in her life as an artist. She wrote half the music while earning her Bachelor’s in Jazz Studies (with a concentration on Vocal Jazz) at the University of North Texas and the rest after emerging from the hyper-academic music setting and starting to develop her unique style as a singer, composer and performer.
RHU wrote the first songs for the EP as small group ensemble assignments, and continues to gig and record with the talented fellow jazz students she met there – a band that includes Ben McDonald (Piano, Rhodes & Harmonium), Ethan Stalbaum (guitar), Aaron Holthus (bass), Spenser Liszt (saxophones) and Connor Kent (drums and percussion). RHU also plays guitar on some tracks. The album was produced by RHU’s father, renowned producer, film composer, songwriter and music industry entrepreneur Barry Coffing, whom she gratefully credits for using similar reverbs and consistent recording methods to create a sense of flow and continuity despite the rhythmic and stylistic diversity from track to track.
“These six tracks are all unique snapshots of my life from the past four or five years of songwriting. Listened to as a whole, they are essentially about transitioning into who I have become as an artist and finding my true voice,” says RHU, who grew up in Los Angeles and Houston, where she studied classical and contemporary voice at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She settled in the Dallas area after graduating from UNT in 2014.
“In six songs, you can hear many of my influences that are rooted in jazz, indie pop/rock and related genres. Legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and especially Carmen McRae sparked my love for jazz that inspired me to enroll at UNT. I loved the way Nina used classical counterpoint in her treatment of jazz standards. But when I was growing up, I also loved Jimi Hendrix, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the progressive rock of The Mars Volta and Andrew Bird. More recently, I got into the modern jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan, who blends jazz with Armenian folk melodies.”
The opening track “Silently Walking” begins with an hypnotic, textured a capella style that introduces us to RHU’s gorgeous voice, then pops into a bright percussive jazz groove with alternating rhythm schemes, including touches of indie, world and Latin jazz. The song is about questioning life’s big issues, then learning to quiet them and accept certain things as mysteries, at least for now. “This was written at a time when I felt very lost,” she says. “I was questioning everything; religion, music, love etc. The words are a reflection of my inner dialogue and experience in self- discovery. I would often go on long walks to clear my head, which is where the title comes from. The word ‘silent’ is not describing sound, but rather inner thoughts being silenced. It is about being comfortable in the unknown and relinquishing control.”
“Mistress,” a moody dark chorded song RHU playfully refers to as a “drunken circus dirge” in part due to its quick tempo switches in the middle, may remind listeners of everyone from Tom Waits to Fiona Apple. It’s about feeling like a slave to something. “No matter how much you push forward,” she says, “there is always that thing trying to pull you back. Balance is one of the hardest things to come by. Either you have too much or too little. In the end, all you have control over is your efforts.” Still evolving as an artist, RHU calls the vibe of the dreamy, lilting, vocal harmony driven “Daydreamer” the musical foundation she might adopt as her career moves forward. The song, which features drummer Connor Kent using a Shiner Bock bottle as a percussion instrument and bassist Aaron Holthus’ unique whistling talents, is a shout out to the “creatives” - the dreamers who envision beautiful lives they may never achieve and who get nothing but flak along their journey. “A daydreamer is someone who has thoughts about something they will likely never achieve,” RHU says. “Creatives are often seen in this light. This song is an ode to the question that artists are often asked, ‘Is it worth it?’”
“Transitioning” is another hypnotically jazzy piece with dynamic rhythmic shifts, from a soulful, lyrical flow to more bustling improvisational energy. At its core is RHU’s belief that the most important relationship anyone can have is with him or herself. “Transitioning,” she says, “is about the journey I went through in order to discover and foster that relationship.” The EP wraps with the smoky jazz ballad “Sum To One” (a relationship tune exploring the meaning of opening up your heart) and an incredible, unadorned piano and vocal interpretation of the Johnny Mandel/Alan & Marilyn Bergman classic “Where Do You Start.” It’s stark, simple arrangement allows RHU to open up her traditional jazz heart and show true vulnerability as an artist. Pressed for time, the band recorded “Where Do You Start” at the end of the session and nailed it brilliantly in a single take.
“I feel like I’m like a hybrid of all of the incredible artists who have inspired me,” says RHU, “and I have really taken the time these past few years to figure out how my connections to all those artists and styles would help develop my own voice and identity. There is a Nina Simone quote I like that says, ‘It is an artist’s duty to reflect the times,’ and I feel like this is an important time for art to have a voice, which is why I am pursuing it so intensely. I get so much joy and catharsis from listening to music and I want to have more opportunities to make others feel that way with mine. On Transitioning, it was not only amazing to work with these great musicians, but to experience the magic coming to life as we added all the unexpected sonic touches and textures along the way. It truly feels like my musical child and I’m excited to share it with the world.”