Jes: The voice of an angel

As the voice behind some of dance music’s most popular and recognizable anthems, New York-based songstress Jes Brieden has built an impressive career both as a songwriter and producer of her own original material, and as a collaborative partner with the likes of BT, Tiësto, Gabriel & Dresden, Solarstone and many more. What’s more, she’s presently on her way to Australia for her first ever tour. She recently took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to talk to inthemix about her music, her collaborative partners, and more.

First of all, you’re something of a rarity in melodic dance music circles, in that you’re well known both as an artist in your own right, and as a vocalist and collaborator with some of the biggest names in the business. How you choose whom to work with?

Collaborations happen in different ways. Sometimes, I hear a song and I look for that person. With the internet and social networks I have found some great talented people and have connected with them. I get sent CDs from different people and I listen to them… and you never know when something will spark a song.

Other times, my labels will recommend someone to me or they are contacted for collaborations with me. When I was on the Elements of Life tour, I met BT and we became friends. I meet a lot of DJs and producers doing shows, and sometimes you just meet those people you really click with and you start something. That happens often and your creative juices start flowing together. It’s a little bit of fate, timing, and finding the right inspiration. That’s the special time, when everything aligns together for a memorable collaboration.

Do you find building both a solo and collaborative career at the same time as you’re doing to be two challenges, or one?

It’s definitely a challenge. I never stop! Mostly, because I’m so happy to be doing it, to be living the dream, and constantly wanting to get better and do more projects. I do get a bit tired, but then I also get so inspired with a thousand ideas and have to write something or try something new everyday. I try to schedule room to be able to work and collaborate with DJ/producers while doing my solo records. The two still seem to come out different even though I may be working on multiple projects at the same time. I think each project brings out a different creative aspect in me, not only vocally but lyrically too.

Given that you collaborate with artists from all around the world, how does the collaborative process work with you? Do you always work in person with the artist or act you’re working with, or is much of it done over distance?

Well, because many of the people I collaborate with are from different countries and technology is far more advanced now, I do work a lot over the internet even though I would much rather prefer to be in the same room. Singing, writing lyrics, creating melodies, and sending them over to the person and bouncing ideas back and forth via the internet is fun and exciting, especially if you are in totally different time zones and thousands of miles away from them. It’s pretty wild these days what you can do. Even if we are in the same country, with the schedules we have, someone is always on the move with touring and projects, so it works well collaborating like that. With that said though, I do think its best when you can be in the studio with the person and work off each other. That we try and schedule that aspect in, I find most rewarding. I really need the studio time with my solo projects, that is prime creative time.

Your latest collaboration with Airscape (AKA Johan Gielen) has just hit the streets. Any further collaborations on the way that you can tell us about?

I have two new songs coming out with BT. Armin van Buuren just premiered his remix of Every Other Way, but there are other incredible mixes including the original BT version coming soon. I’m getting so many positive comments and messages about it and just so happy because I was very inspired working on that song and have waited for people to hear it. I loved working with BT and I think you can hear the inspiration in the songs. They both will be on BT’s new album and all I can say is I have been a fan of BT for a long time before working with him, so I can’t wait!

While fans of underground electronic dance music would surely claim you as their own, your music has also made many inroads into mainstream culture – through MTV, Top of the Pops and of course impressive chart performance in many countries. Do you give much thought to either side of the radio-to-rave spectrum as you compose or record your music? Are you now – and do you want to be a ‘pop star’ as such?

Of course I would love to be a pop star, but that’s not the main reason I got into this. I’m constantly writing and singing, and I need to do something with it all or else I would go batty for sure. I do think about the radio – rave spectrum a bit, but really for me it comes down to the song. My only hope is to write good songs that connect with people. When I write, I try to incorporate the many genres that have influenced me throughout my life: dance, rock, pop, acoustic, and so on. I do want to appeal to a broader audience, but with out leaving my roots behind, which I cherish deeply! EDM has a huge place in the modern world of music. It is modern music. It’s a genre of music before its time and is just now really becoming part of mainstream music, TV and film. I do want to branch out more into many other genres. I write my albums with many influences that have touch my heart and I do hope that will cross over naturally.

Godskitchen Boombox Tour 2009:

Friday October 2nd: The Met, Brisbane
Sunday October 4th: Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
Friday October 9th: Metro City, Perth
Saturday October 10th: Hisense Arena, Melbourne

Stay tuned to our Godskitchen Festival Page, and check out a video of the Boombox firing on all cylinders below..

You need to be logged in to add comments... Login Now

There are 0 user comments