Timber and Steel

Photo by Mike Roeder Courtesy of Love Over Gold

Love Over Gold is the new duo project from singer-songwriters Lucie Thorne (Australia) and Pieta Brown (USA) and their new album Fall To Rise has been getting quite a workout at the Timber and Steel bullpen recently. We managed to grab five minutes with Pieta Brown to chat about the collaboration before they head out on tour this November.

Gareth Hugh Evans: Talk us through how you both started collaborating. How did you meet? Whose idea was the project?

Pieta Brown: Lucie and I met in Sydney, and we met through the music really. Lucie played a big part in bringing me to Australia. When we met, I knew we would be friends. When I heard Lucie play a solo show at the Mullum Festival before I went back to the states, I caught a spark – it was like a vision – I could see as clear as day that we would collaborate. When I told Lucie about my vision/idea she was wide open and it rolled on out from there.

GHE: It sounds like a pretty unique creative process – long distance collaboration followed by time spent recording in Iowa. How was it to finally get in the same place at the same time and record the album?

PB: The same place and same time was essential for the recording to really happen; and Lucie really made that happen. She came to Iowa and as soon as we were in the same room again and then in the recording studio the spark lead the way!

GHE: You both bring a wealth of influences and experience to the album. Did you have a clear plan about the type of music you wanted to produce when you started collaborating or was it more a case of just writing and seeing what comes out?

PB: I’m one for following my instincts without a lot of planning involved. The only plan I had was to follow the music – if you’re really listening the music never lies, and I knew when I heard Lucie that day in Australia that we would find some kind of music together and have fun doing it! So while the music and songs have a particular sparseness to them, which for me is part of the intrigue, there’s also a lot of openness and fun underneath driving the collaboration. I also really dig the undeniable feminine quality our collaboration has.

GHE: You’re touring Australia in November including an appearance at the Mullum Music Festival – how do you think your respective fans are going to respond to your Love Over Gold material? Will we see any of your solo material on the tour?

PB: We played mostly Love Over Gold material in the states and the audiences were really receptive. We put some solo Lucie Thorne songs in and a couple solo Pieta Brown songs but the heart of the show is this fresh collaboration.

GHE: Is this project a one off or do you see yourselves collaborating for years to come?

PB: It feels like a beginning to me.

Fall To Rise is available now. The full list of dates for the Love Over Gold tour are below:

Thursday 14th November – The Basement, Sydney, NSW
Friday 15th November – Street Theatre, Canberra, ACT
Saturday 16th November – The Town Hall, Candelo, NSW
Wednesday 20th November – Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
Thursday 21st to Sunday 24th November – Mullum Music Festival, Mullumbimby, NSW