Fierce Hearts

Fierce Hearts
Soundtrack album by Katie Noonan
Released	28 February 2014
Recorded	Sing Sing Studios
Genre	Rock music, pop music, Acoustic, Folk rock, Jazz music
Label	Kin Music Australia / Universal Music Australia
Katie Noonan chronology
Songbook (2013) Fierce Hearts (2014) Songs That Made Me (2014)

Fierce Hearts is a soundtrack/studio album credited to Australian singer songwriter Katie Noonan. It is an album produced by Noonan as the soundtrack to contemporary circus Circa's show "Love-Song-Circus".

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2014, the album was nominated for Best Original Soundtrack/Cast/Show Album, but lost to Gurrumul: His Life and Music by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu.^[1]

Background and release

"Love-Song-Circus" is a moving and unique piece of work based on the stories of Australia’s first convict women. Combining textures of folk instrumentation, string quartet, piano and Noonan’s voice with the graceful physicality of 3 of Circa’s acrobat/ aerialists, this work shares these untold stories within an evocative, beautiful and emotionally engaging performance.

The seeds of this project were sewn in 2010 when Noonan read of an exhibition at the National Museum of Australia called "Love Tokens". This collection contains 307 tokens dating from 1762-1856, most of them fashioned from the 1797 Cartwheel penny. These pennies proved perfect as tokens – they were cheap, made of a soft copper and were quite large – providing plenty of space for inscriptions. Convicts would engrave them with messages and images for the loved ones they had to leave behind.^[2][3]

This imagery of love and loss captured Katie's imagination immediately and she says, "As a woman and mother I felt deeply compelled to explore these stories. I soon discovered that the lives of the first female convicts is a part of our history that has been explored by few".^[4]

"Love-Song-Circus" premiered at the 2012 Adelaide Cabaret Festival to full houses and rave reviews. It played again in Melbourne in 2013 and again in 2014 in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. "Impossibly beautiful, this show is a gift to our contemporary Australian culture. Pure and tragic, brutal and transcending!" Kate Ceberano, Artistic Director, Adelaide Cabaret Festival

"Noonan’s songs give life to the courage and stoicism of young women otherwise lost as mere mentions in prison records and colonial archives… This is an accessible, highly accomplished new composition that deserves wide attention." The Australian.^[5]

Reception

Ali Burnie of Beat Music gave the album a positive review saying; "Fierce Hearts – The Music of Love-Song-Circus is folk music at its best. Noonan’s sublime vocals, piano and heartfelt songwriting combines seamlessly with The Gossamer String Quartet, ensuring that this album is a joy to listen to. Drawing us in from the very first track, this beautiful, yet at times very sad album is flawless from start to finish" ^[6]

Track listing

1. "Fierce Hearts Interlude 1" - 3:40
2. "Esther" - 4:26
3. "Leaden Hearts" - 6:33
4. "Fierce Hearts Interlude 2" - 1:33
5. "Jane" - 2:43
6. "Female Transport" - 4:00
7. "Fierce Hearts Interlude 3" - 3:32
8. "Janet" - 3:44
9. "Space Between Us" - 3:10
10. "Fierce Hearts Interlude 4" - 3:36
11. "Sweet One" - 4:46
12. "Louisa" - 3:55
13. "Leaden Hearts Reprise" - 2:03
14. "Ellen" - 3:26
15. "Mary" - 4:18
16. "Finale" - 4:46

Credits

• Banjo, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Resonator Guitar, Mandolin – Benjamin Hauptman
• Cello – Josephine Vains
• Double Bass – Zoe Hauptmann
• Engineer [Assistant] – Aaron Dobos
• Engineer, Mixed By – David Nicholas
• Performer – The Gossamer String Quartet
• Producer, Vocals, Piano – Katie Noonan
• Viola – Caleb Wright
• Violin [1st] – Sarah Curro
• Violin [2nd] – Monica Curro
• Written-By [Strings], Arranged By [Strings] – Stephen Newcomb

Release history

References