“Odessa Chen is a rare talent, simply stated. She has the songwriting and lyric-crafting chops to send shivers up and down the spine of listeners,
and her voice is a thing of sheer beauty. Chen shows on The Ballad of Paper Ships that the genius of her debut was no fluke…she’s come into her own
—writing, producing, and performing a spectacular and shimmering work of intensity. Fans of Low, Cat Power…and Jeff Buckley take note,
you have a new hero in Odessa Chen.”—Somewhere Cold

ODESSA CHEN

Songwriter, Singer, Multi-Instrumentalist, Producer, Arranger, & Engineer

Cinematic and spectral, Odessa Chen’s singular music is a journey. Intimate as a long held secret, each song, like a tiny rowboat maneuvering in the dark, transports us to the deepest part of the lake where the stars shine brightest.

Her songs, while deeply personal, reach from the autobiographical towards the universal. Traveling through despair towards transcendence, every haunting memory and snapshot in time speaks of the romance of heightened moments and transformational experiences.

Art Rock, Ethereal Wave, and Americana are interwoven on her three critically acclaimed albums which explore death, grief, romance, and our relationship to the natural world. Her two EP’s, recorded live with an nine person string ensemble, grew out of her award winning dance and music collaboration with Garrett + Moulton Productions (who’ve choreographed for Peter Gabriel and Aimee Mann). The second EP, The Act of Loving You, was touted by John Vanderslice as one of the best recordings made in his studio that year.

Odessa was part of Romantic Songs of the Patriarchy (2021), a durational performance piece at The Guggenheim Museum. Conceived by acclaimed Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson with Sigur Ros’s Kjartan Sveinsson as musical director, the piece featured musicians playing songs consecutively for up to 8 hours a day for three days. Kjartansson (who’s worked with The National) is widely considered to be one of the greatest performance artists of his generation. The piece was covered by The New York Times and W Magazine and Odessa was the featured performer in KQED & The SF Chronicle’s coverage of the show’s premier at the Women’s Building in San Francisco (2018).

Odessa was awarded a grant by Intermusic SF (2024) and has shared stages with Kronos Quartet, John Vanderslice, Jolie Holland, Mark Eitzel, The Microphones, Jan Arden, and more. Her music has been placed in films and she is a session singer on television, radio, and other people’s records. She sang Patty Smyth’s lead vocals with Zack Smith (founding member of 80’s band Scandal), co-writing and singing on his solo album.

Odessa’s music has been described as haunting, passionate, literary, and powerful, drawing comparisons to Sigur Ros, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, and Cat Power. Her musical inspirations are diverse, but she was most influenced by the introspective art rock of Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Sinead O’Connor.

She writes, arranges, produces, and plays most of the instruments on her records, also engineering her forthcoming record The Mysteries. Mixed by Grammy winning Joe Chiccarelli (The White Stripes, Morrissey, U2, Elton John), and joined by bassist Devra Hoff (Sharon Van Etten, Julia Holter, Nels Cline), and backing vocalists Nyles Lannon (Film School) and Garrett Pierce, The Mysteries is her most forceful work to date. Capturing the raw intensity of an extremely transformational time, this is a once in a lifetime album and a big step forward in songwriting, production, and vocal performance.

CONTRIBUTORS

JOE CHICCARELLI : ENGINEER The White Stripes, Morrissey, U2, Elton John ,Tori Amos and many more.

DEVRA HOFF : BASS Cibo Matto, Julia Holter, Vijay Iyer, Nels Cline, Graham Connah, Ben Goldberg, Howard Wiley, Carla Kihlstedt, Scott Amendola, Hugh Ragin, Good for Cows with Ches Smith, and Carla Bozulich. https://devinhoff.bandcamp.com

ROGER RIEDLBAUER : GUITAR Jolie Holland, Sean Hayes, Gojogo, the Halifax Pier, Music in the Other. http://woodandwires.net

NELS CLINE : GUITAR Wilco, Julian Lage, The Nels Cline Singers, Scott Amendola, and Stained Radiance amoung countless others. http://www.nelscline.com

SCOTT AMENDOLA : DRUMS Charlie Hunter, Will Bernard, John Schott, Nels Cline, Jenny Scheinman, Jeff Parker, Ben Goldberg and Devra Hoff, Bill Frisell, Kelly Joe Phelps and Nels Cline. http://scottamendola.com

RICH DOUTHIT : DRUMS The Drift, Winfred E. Eye, Boxcar Saints https://thedrift.bandcamp.com

CRAIG ADAMS : GUITAR Winfred E.Eye http://www.winfredeeye.com

JAY PELLICCI : ENGINEER Head Engineer at New, Improved Recording and formerly Tiny Telephone, Jay has recorded Magnetic Fields, Sleater-Kinney, The Dodos, Mates of State, Deerhoof, and Death Cab for Cutie. http://www.jaypellicci.com/

IAN PELLICCI : ENGINEER John Vanderslice, Rumah Sakit, 31 Knots. http://www.ianpellicci.com/

JEFF BYRD : ENGINEER Spoon, Neurosis, Explosions In The Sky, Iron and Wine

APPEARANCES

Odessa is featured on the following albums
Thee More Shallows : More Deep Cuts (Monotreme, Turn)
Nyles Lannon : Falling Inside (Badman)
Wundercat (Zack Smith of 80’s band Scandal) : Two Sided Fortune
Vienna Teng: Inland Territory (Decca Universal)
Noe Venable : Cascadia (Independent)
Carta : The Faults Follow (Saint Marie Records)
Charles Atlas : To The Dust: From Man You Came To Man You Shall Return (Ochre Records)
Details Hurt My Mind : Various Artists (Independent)
Odessa was a member of the bands Port and Troia, and briefly Thee More Shallows
and has sung on several commercials on t.v. and radio.