When Melbourne based musician and poet’s daughter Lucie Thorne first heard the wild true story of Kitty Walsh and charismatic bushranger Frank Gardiner, she knew she had to write a song about it. What started as one song ended up as a whole album. Kitty & Frank is a brilliant, contemporary art/pop concept album weaving a tale of Shakespearean proportions with dream-soaked synths, irresistible beats, poetry and pathos. This is Kitty’s story, her story often erased from the pages of history.
“When I tell people I’ve written a concept album about a bushranger love affair they think it’s going to be all fiddles and lagerphones!” Lucie says laughing “and it couldn’t be further from it! I knew this whole wild Kitty-and-Frank story could live in any sound world, it’s such a timeless romantic tragedy. The more I became immersed in their lives, the more adventurous I became with the sonic palette to tell their story.”
‘Golden Plains’ is the album’s opening track, and it’s where we meet Kitty Walsh; she’s a young married woman living at Wheogo station on the Lachlan River in the 1860s. The discovery of gold in the area brought chaos and tens of thousands to the district. Gold also attracts bushrangers. Gold brings Frank Gardiner to Kitty’s door.
“‘Golden Plains’ is one of the first songs I wrote for the album. I wanted to brew a sense of urgency, get inside Kitty’s head and inhabit a feeling of restlessness and anticipation… the feeling that your whole world’s about to be turned upside down” said Lucie. “And for Kitty that is exactly what happened.”
An enticing taste of what’s to come, ‘Golden Plains’ features sublime playing from Thorne’s A-team collaborators; Hamish Stuart (drums), Chris Abrahams of The Necks (synthesiser) and Dave Symes (bass).
Lucie Thorne’s forthcoming album Kitty & Frank inhabits a sonic world that calls to mind a meeting of David Bowie’s Blackstar and Kate Bush’s Aeriel, via Grimes and Alice Coltrane. All this at the hands of one of Australia’s finest song-poets who has ventured to triumphant new ground with staggering certitude.
Lucie Thorne has announced an extensive national tour (Sept-Nov) to celebrate the album’s release. Fittingly, the tour kicks off in Cowra – right in the heart of Kitty & Frank country.
KITTY & FRANK will be released through Little Secret Records on 26th August 2019
LUCIE THORNE ‘KITTY & FRANK’ NATIONAL TOUR
Fri 13 Sept – The Corridor Project – COWRA, NSW
Sat 14 Sept – Smith’s Alternative – CANBERRA, ACT
Sun 15 Sept – The Town Hall – CANDELO, NSW
Fri 4 Oct – Music on the Hill – RED HILL VIC
Sat 5 Oct – Old Church on the Hill – BENDIGO VIC
Sun 6 Oct – Northcote Social Club – MELBOURNE VIC
Thu 17 Oct – Camelot Lounge – SYDNEY NSW
Fri 18 Oct – McCrossin’s Mill – URALLA NSW
Sat 19 Oct – Community Arts Hall – WAUCHOPE NSW
Sun 20 Oct – Grand Junction – MAITLAND NSW
Thu 14 Nov – The Junk Bar – BRISBANE QLD
Fri 15 – Sun 17 Nov – Mullum Music Festival – MULLUMBIMBY NSW
Fri 22 Nov – Cooee Arthouse – ALDINGA SA
Sat 23 Nov – The Wheatsheaf – ADELAIDE SA
Sun 24 Nov – Memorial Hall – ASHBOURNE SA