Dream Chambers is the alias of multi-talented artist Jess Chambers, composer, performer, and founder of the Pōneke electronic music collective Techno Echo.
Modular synthesizer and vocalist Dream Chambers
photograph: Nita
Jess is one of the few artists who openly speaks about music as a spiritual practice.
For Chambers, the power of music lies in the visceral emotions and sensations one experiences when listening to it and engaging with it wholeheartedly.
Winner of the APRA Best Country Song for “Stringing Me Along” (2009) and a finalist for the APRA Silver Scroll Award, Chambers straddles two worlds: the sensitive guitar playing and introspective lyrics on her folk albums were guided by her desire to connect with people through sound, which ultimately led her into the world of ambient arranging, an aspect Jess cherishes in her live performances.
Chambers describes her encounter with music as soulful, connected to voice, harmony and community. Using guitar as her instrument, she began her musical career as a folk singer and songwriter, collaborating with New Zealand folk supergroup The Woolshed Sessions on an album in 2007.
Dream Chambers is the alias of multi-talented artist Jess Chambers
photograph: Ashton Wooler
Jess has since released two solo albums. Jess Chambers and the Firefly Orchestra (2008) and desire (2011) He then returned to the United States in 2011.
Perhaps it is this dichotomy between folk and ambient music that sets Jess apart from many other artists and makes her music special to audiences. Last year, Chambers collaborated with Poneke composer and synthesizer maestro Sonia Waters. The two composers performed together with Nashville’s avant-garde classical chamber ensemble Chatterbird. BloomThe concert program was from Chambers’ November 30th performance with the group at Emerson Hall in East Nashville.
Dream Chambers performs with the Chatterbird Ensemble
photograph: Nathan Zucker
Jess describes the complex and challenging process of composing six new arrangements, delving into the technical nuances associated with modular synthesis and orchestral instrumentation. Waters and Chambers arranged the pieces for live performance featuring voice, synthesizers and a six-piece orchestra. Working together, they transformed what were originally solo works into ambitious works, imbuing Jess’s modular works with human vitality and additional complexity and emotion.
Chambers plans to release the music later this year.
She spoke to RNZ’s Sonia Ishimnikova about her journey with music, from folk to ambient, and the struggle to navigate creativity and spirituality.
