“Without exaggeration Black Across The Field is as good as anything I’ve heard this year… Growling with warm tube overdrive, stinging like Neil Young… this is a diverse, profound album… with nuances subtle and breathtakingâ€
Martin Jones, Rhythms Magazine, March 2009
"This is one of the finest female vocal albums released by an Australian in the last few years. The whole album - from her band, to production, to the songs - is first-rate...make the effort to seek this fine album out"
Readings Monthly, May 2009
"Australia's PJ Harvey, possessing the punch of Cat Power and the wise words of Joni Mitchell"
Courier Mail, June 2009
"Thorne's songs are exquisite miniatures of distilled emotion, her melodies and harmonies are sublime, and the way she pits grinding guitars against that ethereal, sensual voice is like watching a thunderstorm in the distance. By turns dark and tender, Black Across The Field is a beautiful album."
David Curry, The Canberra Times, April 2009
"This is music that can be tender and taut, full of the subtle nuances of real life as opposed to the black-and-white world of simple pop. There's tough guitar and autumnal shades, haunting slow-mo rock, Neil Young-esque guitar
lines... And right up front is a voice with a quality that keeps drawing the
listener in."
Noel Mengel, Courier Mail. Feature Album, March 2009
"There are only two people in the room when you're listening to this album: Lucie Thorne and you. There is such an intensity of feeling here...moody folk, country noir...a collection of stories that speaks small but resonates much bigger. Thorne marks out her space with some fabulous sensuality."
Bernard Zuel, Sydney Morning Herald. Feature Album, March 2009
"The production of the voice is a giant close-up of delicate emotional expression; every murmur, tongue flick and gentle pulse is significant. Thorne also has a gift for melody and, for the complete trifecta, writes thoughtful, intelligent lyrics that, as with Joni Mitchell, leave you pondering shades of meaning. Thorne's electric guitars paint gorgeous swaths in the stereo field... this is an album that deserves to be widely heard."
Ian Cuthbertson, ****, The Australian, April 2009
"Thorne cuts her own niche from the acoustic masses by specialising in
gently percolating nocturnes that could be penned by PJ Harvey after waking in a Tasmanian poppy field. A bright star rising, and one worth all the
attention she receives."
Andy Hazel, Inpress
"With the slow burn rock of Sun Kil Moon and the depth of voice of Joni Mitchell, Thorne is insidious in her ability to borrow down into your psyche, drawing you closer...she knows exactly what is required and when."
Chris Peken, Alternative Media Group
Black Across The Field is the exceptional new album from Lucie Thorne, who has earned her place as one of the most striking lyricists and voices of the recent indie rock and roots scenes. Brimming with her intricate guitar work, Black Across The Field combines Thorne’s spacious, gritty rock n roll with startlingly original dark-folk.
Like the best writers, Thorne uses her songs to distil the poetic from the everyday, and each new song opens onto an unlikely world of stories and characters. It’s this breadth and depth of writing that makes Black Across The Field feel a little like a favourite book: the moment you finish, you want to read it again from the beginning.
And throughout these narratives there’s that voice – a voice that draws you in, and makes you lean closer. Thorne’s songs are compelling in their intimacy. As Bernard Zuel (SMH) writes, this is a voice of “languidness and urgency†that bristles with undeniable authenticity.
Black Across The Field was recorded during the winter and spring of 2008. After demo-ing many of the songs at home, Lucie was introduced to legendary drummer Hamish Stuart, and that’s when things started to shift. Stuart and Thorne then joined forces with bass player Dave Symes (Sarah Blasko, Missy Higgins, Sleepy Jackson) and with the three of them deciding to co-produce the album, the chemistry of Black Across The Field was born.Most of the album was tracked live in a Sydney studio in just three days. Lucie then took the sessions home to her cottage on the far south coast, and let the songs grow from there. Inspired to continue expanding her horizons, Lucie invited some of her other favourite musicians to guest on the record. To her delight, they were as keen as Stuart and Symes to be involved – resulting in stunning cameo performances by stellar heavyweights Chris Abrahams on piano, and Stephen Magnusson on guitars.
The finished product is an extraordinary collaboration. The strength and substance of Thorne’s unique voice and songwriting are primary, traversing soundscapes that are as sensitive and beautiful on some tracks as they are dark and foreboding on others. Black Across The Field brings to mind the cycling sparseness and biting slow rock of Low and Sun Kil Moon, the punch and sexiness of Cat Power, and the poetic simplicity of Will Oldham.
"A spellbinding dark-folk storybook"
Sarah Howells, JMAG
"Thorne writes some of the most simple and beautiful songs you will hear."
****, The Age
Lucie's albums are available in stores and online through Vitamin Records: