Young Australian indie-jazz ensemble Nat Bartsch Trio release their second full- length album, To Sail, To Sing, in April 2013. Pianist/composer Nat Bartsch is joined on this album by the new rhythm section of double bassist Tom Lee (Michelle Nicole Quartet, Vada) and drummer Daniel Farrugia (Luke Howard Trio, Murphy’s Law), who replace long time members Josh Holt and Leigh Fisher. Vocalist Gian Slater and tenor saxophonist Kieran Hensey also perform with the trio on two tracks. This album features Bartsch’s new compositions and arrangements of songs by Gotye and Radiohead, as she continues to link Australian/European jazz and minimalism to what she terms her ‘Triple J upbringing’. The peaceful, heart- warming aesthetic of Nat Bartsch Trio’s previous releases is retained in To Sail, To Sing. However Bartsch’s pianism, and the interplay within her trio, has developed. To Sail, To Sing represents new beginnings for Bartsch after a long break due to illness. To Sail, To Sing is an independent release, and was partially financed through a successful crowdfunding campaign on the Australian website Pozible.com (www.pozible.com/natbartschtrio). Fans of the trio donated money towards the album in exchange for signed copies, album credits, sheet music and house concerts. The album has a personal feel to it: the cover photo was even taken on Bartsch’s iPhone, using Instagram, outside her house in Thornbury, VIC. Nat Bartsch Trio was initially formed during studies in jazz at the VCA. Tuition from ECM artists Tord Gustavsen and Nik Bärtsch (no relation) and local jazz greats Andrea Keller, Tony Gould, Tim Stevens have enabled Nat to develop a unique voice within the Australian jazz landscape. The trio’s debut 2010 album Springs, for all the Winters, (recorded for ABC Jazztrack and released on Rufus Records) received much acclaim. Nat was awarded the 2010 Melbourne Prize for Music Development Award, which funded a European tour. There the trio supported Abdullah Ibrahim’s Ekaya at the Jazz Transfer Festival in Germany and performed in Belgium and Switzerland. Nat Bartsch Trio will be touring Japan in May, performing in Tokyo, Kyoto and Niigata to launch To Sail To Sing, supported by an Arts Victoria Contemporary and Live Music Development Grant. “We deserve to hear creative young Victorians like these, who in their youth are already capable of producing music of transcendent beauty.” (Steve Robertson, Portland Observer, 29/12/10)