Hope Renewed is a re-interpretation of Nat Bartsch’s 2021 album Hope (ABC Classic), for jazz quartet, classical musicians and ambient electronics. The compositions contained on both albums create a space for the listener to sit with all the grief and disappointment of 2020, and to look to the future with a quiet optimism.

Nat composed most of the pieces with the smell of bushfire smoke in her house, and later managing the struggles of covid lockdowns in Melbourne. The pandemic is slowly ending, and we are joyfully together again – but, we are still recovering from the era Hope was made in.

In 2021 Hope was embraced: it received Classical ARIA and AIR nominations, reached #1 on the iTunes Classical Australian charts, and received a standing ovation at the Melbourne premiere. So why would Nat want to re-record an album that has gone so well, and risk it falling short in comparison?

Says Nat of the release: “I am in constant pursuit of a creative life that is truly genre-defying. I just want to sound like me. Hope Renewed is an experiment in seeing how it feels to show all the musical sides of me in one place.”

At times, Hope Renewed contains the same kind of quiet, gentle lyricism contained on Hope (and her quartet’s previous release, Forever More) - such as in the title track, or The End of the Decade.

At other times, the music leans into a kind of maximalism – creating an intricate patchwork of sounds, that the listener can immerse themselves in - heard in its extreme in the post-rock anthem Over the River.

This patchwork reflects the complexities of post-pandemic life. Our world became so small, and now it seems enormous.

In the studio Nat began recording with her jazz quartet. Then came added layers and intricacies. Synth, post-rock guitar effects, ambient piano electronics. She composed parts for strings, harp and classical saxophone in response to the recordings of the jazz quartet, creating a meaningful new dialogue.

Completing the genre-bending circle, a sample of the world premiere of Hope by Stonnington Symphony Orchestra is embedded in ambient electronics at the end of the album.

Nat says “Hope Renewed is an epic, beautiful monster I’m proud to have found the audacity to create”.

May it represent an era of renewal for all of us.

1. For the Koalas

2. Brightness in the Hills

3. Fight Not Flight

4. The End of the Decade

5. Untitled

6. Emerging (digital/CD only)

7. Over the River

8. Hope

Nat Bartsch – piano, synth, electronics
Robbie Melville – guitars
Tamara Murphy – double bass and electric bass
Maddison Carter – drums

with

Lucy Warren – violin
Eunise Cheng – viola
Rebecca Proietto – cello
Mary Doumany – electric harp
Joseph Lallo - saxophones

Recorded at Head Gap Studios, Preston, 20-21/08/22

Overdubs recorded at Digital Hub, Monash University School of Music, 25/10/22

Engineered and mixed by Hadyn Buxton
Produced by Nat Bartsch
Mastered by Lachlan Carrick

Artwork by Luci Everett
Cover art photograph by John Hodgson
Studio photography by Tamara Murphy

Hope includes a sample of the world premiere of Hope arranged for orchestra, commissioned and performed by Stonnington Symphony Orchestra

Nat Bartsch plays Yamaha Pianos
All compositions by Nat Bartsch (control)

This project has been assisted by the PPCA and the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.

This album is dedicated to Jacinta Kemp.

CD via natbartsch.com
LP via natbartsch.com
digitally via IDOL
also on bandcamp

“Regardless of genre, Bartsch has an astonishing ability to construct feeling and movement within her compositions” (The Saturday Paper)

“We can’t help feeling that this is an artist who has really understood the power of Shakespeare’s words “to thine own self be true” (A Closer Listen)

“Hope Renewed is an album to be embraced and treasured” (Textura)

“The resulting music… unfurls like an audacious rollercoaster of emotive highs and lows, signifying a fresh flowering of optimsim following dark times” (Rhythms magazine)

“The magical transformation of the music which Bartsch has achieved through a new vision should not be underestimated.” 5 stars (The Weekend Australian)

“The originals from Hope exquisitely re-painted with extraordinary musicianship and sensitivity.” (Fine Music magazine)