
On the face of it, Dreaming Of Jupiter are a classic beat-driven dance-pop band, one that, perhaps, owes a subtle debt to the poppy floor-fillers of the mid-90s, like a toned-down N-Trance twisted with some modern licks and obscure, beat–led influences.
They call their sound ‘ambi-groove’, which sounds, above all else, like a whole lot of fun. Latest single ‘Beyond A Vibe’ would perhaps, under less surreal circumstances, be one of those songs that reverberating through a summer.
The three-piece, with vocals by Zoe Gough, have been gathering some serious radio play in recent months, and are working on making 2020 their biggest year to date. Here’s what Zoe had to say about the journey so far…
I understand you’ve invented a genre label for yourselves, Ambi-Groove. Can you tell me a bit about it?
Yeah for sure! Any time anyone would ask us how we sound, we always seemed to come back with the words ‘groovy’ and ‘ambient’…We feel our style has a range of influences. We are all natural groovers, that’s for sure. We’re big on funk and soul genres, even reggae…but we also have a strong appreciation for textures and love to create a soundscape for the listener. We aim to create a new textural palette with each song, with a kind of sonic space where the listener can get a little bit lost in the mood of each track. That’s where ‘Ambi-Groove’ originated from, I suppose.
How varied are your tastes in music, and how are they feeding into the tracks you’re producing?
Super varied. We’re all from different backgrounds and we each bring different flavours to the table for sure. Of course, there are lots of acts we all listen to a lot…the likes of Little Dragon, Nao, The Internet, Bonobo, Tycho and so on…but then we’ve each got our own tastes too ranging from 90s Hip Hop, Neo Soul acts like the wonderful Jill Scott, to grittier sounds of the Bristol underground scene and Trip Hop vibe – the likes of Massive Attack and Portishead and so on, all the way to classic P-Funk and Soul vibes of Chaka Khan and Chic to clean vibey pop of the likes of Dua Lipa and Jessie Ware.
We just love music, and the more we listen to, the more we learn, and the more interesting it all becomes. That’s what we love about this, we just never stop learning and we can literally move in so many directions! Sometimes we love to take a classic reggae concept or idea and completely re-think it and use it in a pop context for example, or a groove that has it’s roots in a trip hop idea, but we’ll modify it and adapt it by changing the choices of timbres we use or how we mix it to fit into a track with a soul vibe, you know what I mean? Pushing boundaries and trying everything – that’s what we love.
Tell me a little bit about the tracks you have out so far – They strike me as very much a taster for a more long-form, ambient piece of work. Is that fair?
Yeah – absolutely! We would hope so. Like, we would definitely love to do an album, when we are ready. We don’t rush anything though, we never have, and we will know when the time comes. Would we love to have a strong concept and depth to it? Yes. With a couple of pop bangers on there too of course :).
What do you see as your main audience – are you a club act, a live band… it seems like you could fit both.
We’re definitely a live band at our core. We work really hard at bringing all of the sounds and textures you hear on our tracks to life for the live stage. We bring a lot of raw energy to our live shows, and we have a really good time.
Is there a more substantial release on the horizon?
Yes.
How does a typical Dreaming Of Jupiter track come together?
It depends on the track, but usually we’ll have song pre-produced and structured within a couple of weeks. Then we start to tweak and iron out the finer details before the final production phase. We get along really well together and we’re all on the same page when we’re writing so usually it’s a pretty fluid process.
Dublin’s electronic scene seems to have gone through a difficult time recently, in part because of club and venue closures. How do you see things?
Yeah, the arts will always go through ups and downs. Seeing venues closing down is always sad, but we’re lucky to live in a city where there is a really strong appreciation for creativity and innovation, and we believe things will pick up again.
You must be delighted with the backing you’ve had from RTE and the BBC. Do you feel like you’re on a strong path in terms of getting your name out there?
Absolutely! The support for ‘Beyond a Vibe’ and our debut EP ‘Fading’ has been amazing. We’re grateful and humbled at the support and radio play we’ve received. Ultimately, when we hear people are enjoying our music and feeling the energy, it just makes everything worth it. Next step is getting everyone to come see us live – and feel the buzz in the room!
How are you using this shutdown time?
We’re writing again! Listening to as much new stuff as we can also, and well, we’re missing each other terribly to be honest! We have a facetime call every night though so that helps a bit 🙂 We all know we’re doing the right thing for the greater good by staying apart though. No doubt about that. This is a crazy time to be alive, but sometimes time to reflect is a good thing.
What’s been your favourite moment as Dreaming Of Jupiter so far?
We played to a packed out Button Factory last year in Dublin. That was pretty epic! The energy was incredible. Being in a room with all of our favourite people, vibing to tunes we’ve put our hearts and souls into – what more could anyone want? We’re always grateful for the support and love we feel when people come to support the band. To be honest though, we’ve had a lot of amazing moments.
What are you hope for the future?
To keep learning, growing, creating and looking after each other, and wherever this goes, never to lose who we are – that’s really important to the three of us.