Dream Chambers is the moniker of the multifaceted artist Jess Chambers, a composer, performer, and cofounder of the Pōneke electronic music collective - Techno Echo (with Em Smith and Amber Johnson).
Modular Synthesist and Vocalist Dream Chambers Photo: NITA
Jess is one of the few artists who candidly speaks about music as a spiritual practice.
To Chambers, the power of music lies in the visceral emotion and feeling one experiences when listening and engaging with music with one's whole heart.
Winner of the APRA Best Country Song award for ‘Stringing Me Along’ (2009) and a finalist for the APRA Silver Scroll Award, Chambers often resides in two worlds. Her delicate guitar playing and introspective lyrical writing on her folk albums eventually led her into the world of ambient arrangement, guided by her desire to connect with people through sound—an aspect of performing live that Jess treasures.
Chambers describes her introduction to music as soulful - connected to voice, harmony, and community. With her guitar as her instrument of choice, she broke into the music scene as a folk singer and songwriter, collaborating on an album with New Zealand folk supergroup The Woolshed Sessions in 2007.
Dream Chambers is the moniker of the multifaceted artist Jess Chambers Photo: Ashton Wooller
Subsequently, Jess released two solo albums, Jess Chambers and the Firefly Orchestra (2008) and Desire (2011), before moving back to the US in 2011.
The dichotomy between folk and ambient music is perhaps what sets Jess apart from many artists and what makes her music so special to audiences. Last year, Chambers collaborated with Pōneke composer and synth extraordinaire Sonya Waters. The two composers worked with Nashville's avant-classical chamber ensemble Chatterbird on The Blossoming, a concert program that Chambers performed with the group on 30 November at East Nashville’s Emerson Hall.
Dream Chambers performing alongside the Chatterbird ensemble Photo: Nathan Zucker
Jess describes the intricate and challenging process of composing six new arrangements, delving into the technological nuances associated with modular synthesis and orchestral instrumentation. Waters and Chambers adapted the pieces for a live performance featuring voice, synthesisers, and a six-piece orchestra. Together, they transformed what was originally a solo work into something ambitious, imbuing Jess’s modular compositions with human aliveness and another layer of complexity and feeling.
Chambers is set to release the compositions later in the year.
She spoke with RNZ’s Sonya Ishimnikova about her journey with music, from folk to ambient and her struggles navigating creativity and spirituality.
