For Majid-Jordan, the grind never stops – whether in a Dubai hotel room or a Toronto studio.
Jordan Ullman, one half of the Canadian-Bahraini R&B duo, is moving aside production gear – including a turntable and keyboard sprawled on a chair – to make space for our interview, only hours before their recent Dubai Opera performance.
"At the end of the day, we are music heads and we have recorded many of our works away from the studio, from tour buses to hotels," says Ullman, a producer and multi-instrumentalist. "Even with the growing success, we don't really want to lose that approach of being able to create anywhere we go. Just last night I did a mix here in the hotel."
This nomadic creative process stems back to their earliest days. In 2010, Ullman and Bahraini singer Majid Al Maskati were college students making music in their dorm room when they were discovered on SoundCloud under the name Good People.
Their sound – moody production, reverb-heavy vocals and introspective lyrics about connection and isolation – became a hallmark of what would be known as SoundCloud RnB, a movement spearheaded in Toronto alongside acts such as The Weeknd and PartyNextDoor.
"We were just a couple of guys making music in our dorm, so we really had no frame of reference regarding what we were doing," Al Maskati recalls. "But I do remember we were hanging with fellow artists who were operating at a very high level, so we learnt a lot from that experience."
One of those artists was Noah Shebib, who would change their trajectory entirely. Impressed by the group's debut 2011 EP After Hours, Shebib signed them to Ovo Sound, the label he co-founded with Drake. It all came at a crucial moment for Al Maskati, who had just finished his university degree.
"That man gave me a life in Canada and literally helped me immigrate there," he says. "At the time, I was alone in Toronto with no family. He was the one who took responsibility, sponsored me, and even gave me my first laptop, microphone and access to resources."
The investment paid off with Majid-Jordan releasing four well-received albums, the newest of which is Good People. Named after their former moniker, it's no mistake.
Their latest release intentionally returns to their roots – both musically and geographically. The album, which features the languidly catchy Waiting For You (with Sade-inspired vocals from Naomi Sharon) and the cinematic Violet, was deliberately split between two recording locations: Toronto, where their journey began, and Manama, Bahrain, where Al Maskati's family lives.
Doing it this way, Ullman remarks, was to present a more fully rounded release transcending their Canadian roots. "A lot of the time you put music out in the world and it takes a shape that you didn't initially envisage," Ullman explains. "For example, us being spoken about as a Toronto R&B duo somehow became the accepted reality, even if it wasn't the full picture. So we intentionally started the album in Toronto and finished it in Bahrain to tell our complete story."
For Al Maskati, returning to Bahrain is deeper than just making music.
"We wanted to shine a light on Bahrain and this part of the world, so people could hear more about it. You hear things in the news, but it's really a simple characterisation or general summary of the place, but you can’t summarise a country, an area, or a region – let alone a person,” he says. “So we just wanted to show that music is being made here. There’s energy here, there’s creativity here, and there are resources."
Al Maskati confirms the band will spend the rest of the year in Bahrain to rejuvenate ahead of another year of recording and more concerts. Reflecting on how the region's cultural landscape has evolved since he left for Canada as a student more than 15 years ago, he sees an opportunity for further championing the region.
"There are a lot of great things happening here and more artists from this region are stepping up and proudly representing who they are," he says. "I think it's important for me to be here and connect with people. It's a responsibility and a blessing I've had my whole life. Now I'm making sure that I show up for the region in the way that so many people here showed up for us."
These adventures will also not be lost in the mix. "We have our recording equipment everywhere we go," Jordan says. "Everything we do together is made with the intention of sharing it with the world."
