Garden2Garden,

A formidable adventure which found its roots in a shared passion, that of Kate Bush's musical universe.

It all began when Lissa Kathe, based in New South Wales, Australia, met Nat Hall, based in Shetland, Scotland, on the Kate Bush Forum. Friendship seeds emerged off that common ground.

Lissa Kathe is an independent artist who has nurtured her passion for singing and composition from childhood. If the piano remains her most natural instrument, Lissa developed her musical gift with, notably, accordion, guitar and cello. So many strings to her bow. However, Lissa & her Beale make one!

Nat Hall is a poet and visual artist who has nurtured her passion for words through her love for literature and verse in particular. If Shetland has provided her with a spiritual home for developing her craft, her love for Kate Bush's poetry inspired many ambitions...

Both met with Kate Bush's musical universe back in 1978. Both grew up and developed their respective worlds like antipodean siblings... Both were growing their secret garden in their own way. The KBF provided common ground to enable them to share their talents.

Artistic cross-pollination

As Lissa's first solo album, "My Garden", reached Shetland, the Poet reacted in verse.  Northern and southern garden began to exchange seeds that developed into seedlings... Seedlings developed stems, leaves... Verse began to fly across the planet at unprecedented speed & frequency. We were in 2007.

Then Lissa crossed the planet to experience a first taste of the UK and perform at the KBF Gathering in Haworth, England. Her first northern adventure took her to Scotland - Gallaway, Edinburgh, Lewis & The Callanish Stones [her first meeting with the North Atlantic!], Skye & Findhorm, artistic home of her favourite band, The Waterboys...  As she crossed Hadrian's Wall, she met with other KB friends and delighted them with music & smiles.

But that first adventure was not enough. Lissa returned home in July and her ambition to reach Shetland at a later date was already taking shape. More verse and wild ideas flew around the Earth...

The Trinity is born.

The Poet has has a secret trump card: her husband Dave is a shy, though talented musician, who has nurtured his guitarist's craft from the age of 17. Dave is an accomplished composer who had already started to turn her verse into song... What followed that summer turned into an explosion of creativity, which felt like a "Big Bang"! Music and verse started to fly past each other... Our dear wide web became our best friend! Within a week, a first string of five tracks appeared on a common myspace profile... Our friends at the KBF were astounded. We barely couldn't believe it ourselves! Our collaboration agrees to a name: Garden2Garden, which made complete sense to our universe. Between September and December, those beautiful leafy stems gradually turned into flowers. Songs began to line up on our home playlists...

Our friends from the KBF became more than encouraging. They hope for a first collection. So do we. Threads wildly developed on the Forum; their evergrowing encouragements provided fertile fertaliser! However, working together when separated by some 20 thousand kilometers doesn't always help... So Lissa imagined a stratagem, that of spending Christmas in Shetland!

Airborne

Lissa's second world adventure is no longer a dream. Lissa landed on the winter solstice! Her first three days based in Edinbugh, Lissa lightened her luggage for two weeks on 60N provided a good time for forging our human & musical adventure :)). As Pianist and Guitarist devoted a good part of each day at the mixing desk, their musical collaboration flourished to full bloom. Hours of artistic serendipity crowned Lissa's ambition for Airborne, our now titled first opus.  It became an anthem. We locked ourselves in our nordic garden in the hope to finish off those precious mixes. As it happened, two weeks turned too short. back in Edinburgh, Lissa began to work on new material. Then a brief return in early February furthered Lissa's Christmas' endeavour and forged our bond further.

The adventure continues...

We are finalising Airborne as we speak. Back in our respective gardens, mixes have flown around our beautiful planet. Nearly all songs are now at near sound perfection... Pianist and Poet have collaborated on new tracks... Our Guitarist has developed further his skills as sound engineer as well as working on new material as well.  Our universe is our oyster!

Airborne launched at The Jericho in Oxford, UK, on 26 July 2008 - check out the blog & photos sections!