Dora Jar Talks Debut Album, No Way To Relax When You Are on Fire
No Way to Relax When You Are on Fire is the quintessential Dora Jar album: fun, funky, and a little bit whimsical.
It takes something special to catch the attention of Billie Eilish with only a seven song EP, and Dora Jar has that something special. Three years later, the 27-year-old’s debut album, No Way to Relax When You Are on Fire, sets her firmly at the beginning of her artist journey.
Now heading out on her own headline tour, we caught up with Dora to hear all about the new album, released on 13 September, and the inspiration behind this first full chapter in her musical career.
“I’ve enjoyed thinking about it [the album] like a fun house. I want every room to be radically different, but all part of the same house,” Dora shared with a smile. Describing the album as a funhouse feels spot on. It kicks off with This is Why, a track that features delicate, plucked guitar and airy, half-whispered vocals that leave the spotlight firmly on Jar’s vocals. By contrast, Ragdoll, the fourth song, brings a more energetic, dance-driven beat. The track exemplifies Dora Jar’s signature style, where thorny contrasts and bold self-expression collide. With its upbeat rhythm and introspective lyrics, Ragdoll creates a dynamic tension, blending deep questions about identity and purpose with an infectious, danceable groove. It’s a song that feels both weighty and carefree, reflecting Dora’s ability to channel complex emotions into something that feels raw yet undeniably fun.
Dora shares that most of the tracks on No Way To Relax When You Are on Fire started life on the guitar. Rather than leave them in their fragile state, Jar welcomed the challenge of finding the perfect riffs and beats to accompany her lyrics. “It’s kind of like a video game. Like when you keep dying and then you realise how to do the jump… you just keep doing it over and over again until you pass the level.” Jar’s ability to create music on the guitar becomes even more remarkable when she admits she doesn’t actually know much about the instrument—she simply loves “the feeling of playing it.”
“In the creation of this album, I was obsessed with creating contradictions.”
“I sometimes feel like I’m on fire, and I’m full of action, and I just keep going, and I can’t relax. Like right now!”, she shares. Jar is not only chatting about her album, but she’s also sitting behind a steering wheel, navigating her way to the next stop on her Behind the Curtain tour. At one point, she even stops mid-answer to double-check directions with her passengers and then slides right back into our conversation without missing a beat.
“It’s so fun playing live and I wish I could do it all the time,” she shares. Jar has previously toured as an opener for Billie Eilish and The 1975, and her first headline tour, The Opening Tour, hit 20 cities in 2022. Opening for bigger artists gave Jar a desire to play her own headlining shows in front of crowds that size, but right now she’s appreciative of the intimacy of smaller venues. “I just love being able to have shows this size where I feel like I can see everyone’s face.” On the Behind the Curtain Tour, Jar will be on the road for four weeks, hitting 14 cities across North America.
The No Way to Relax When You’re on Fire era has been defined not only by Jar’s captivating music but also by stunning, carefully crafted visuals. Drawing inspiration from classic films, she reveals, “I love old movies that mix cartoon and live-action, like Mary Poppins.” This influence is evident in the album’s cover art, which features a smoke staircase – a direct and carefully placed homage to a similar scene in Mary Poppins. “Smoke as a staircase is a big contradiction,” Jar explains. “Smoke comes from fire, and that connection made sense for this album’s theme.”
Her love for Mary Poppins and its whimsical visuals also hints at a deeper appreciation for musical theatre, which she has long admired. She dreams of expanding her creative vision in the future, saying, “I want to write a musical one day,” she laughs, “But when I’m like 40.” For Dora, these artistic contradictions – smoke as a staircase, mixing the real with the surreal – highlight her ability to weave playful fantasy with profound meaning, and it’s clear that her creative ambitions stretch far beyond just music.
While you wait for her musical to hit a Broadway stage, you can catch Dora Jar on tour through to 17 October, and listen to No Way to Relax When You’re on Fire on Spotify and Apple Music.
