Before the Mountains

• Track Listing

When I look back I can see a long windy road with many crossroads behind me. From the very beginning until today there has always been this light surrounding me - in my seeking and in my finding - it faithfully led the way. I live in a big house with a tower and an overgrown garden. Before coming here to start an artist community with friends I visited many cities and squares, lived in the North, South and West of Germany and crossed many borders. I've always been one to seek out little hiding places away from the real world. The first time I really listened to music the fuse of my heart was lid, i was captured, could write songs even though I'd never tried before and I realized there was nothing more deeply freeing for me than to write and sing songs. This was my language and I knew nothing would be able to hold it back from me. With some fellow students we recorded my first songs in 1998 and gave the music tape to anyone who crossed our paths. A few later I was 'discovered' in the more official sense of the word: a music producer took me under his wing and introduced me to the real music business. We recorded the first album and I signed a record deal. Everything became more professional, it was no longer just me and my guitar, but I played with a full band now. The label needed more songs to work with and I started co-writing with my guitarist. The songs became more 'pop', the expectations of the label and producers grew, managers came and went, just like the record deals. The last big stop was Nashville, Tennessee. A young label signed me and gave everything to blare my music from the rooftops. Now I played festival after festival, one of my songs made it into the billboard charts. Radio interviews, photo shootings, promotion tours across the States. My life was fast and big. Too fast for me to slow down. Who was I? It had gotten difficult to know my own voice because the voices around me had gotten so loud and demanding. In order to hear the gentle voice of the heart you have to become still and listen within. During this time I hardly wrote any songs because I lost access to my core. One night far away from home in the US I wrote two new songs that were to lead the way onto a new path: to put everything on the table, to leave the old behind and to focus on the voice of my heart completely. On the plane back to Germany I had no idea what was to come. The next three years were almost exclusively dedicated to touring Europe, this time with my husband Stevi, who not only accompanied me on the bass, but also opened the door to freedom for me. All these years I had been bound to contracts and people. People who wanted to help me to gain freedom, but instead of letting me go they held on tight. Stevi took me by the hand and fought with me so I could be released out of longstanding contracts. Finally I was free from being bound to record companies and managers. At first I felt lost, because no one was there to take responsibility on my behalf. But soon I heard the familiar blowing of the wind, I started to breathe in and let it carry me. It took me back to the beginnings, back to the time of my first songs, my childhood, when the soul was free and the heart was beating to rhythms of adventure. I could write again without having to think, i was surprised by songs nearly every day til now. And we started touring again. This time with a new band: Stevi on the bass, Burki on drums and me on guitar and vocals. The beginning of a new time. Never before had I felt so secure on stage, so myself. The conversations we had with people after our gigs were just as enriching to us as playing music together. We made more and more friends (much better than fans) and people that could identify with my songs got drawn to us and became faithful listeners. Our dream to somehow share the intense experiences we had as musicians began to grow and we started to think of a home, a place where we could be family for and with other artists. In Dresden we met with our friends Arno and Dani and realized that they carried the same ambition in them as we did - for a community that lived together as family - in love for God and each other with open doors for artists and their art. It's been three years now since we moved into a castle near Dresden with three families, one single girl and meanwhile eight children. We have a lot of room for music and guests, our own studio and rooms to rehearse in and much more. Since I moved here I sense something I have never felt before, it is hard to describe. It is like a dream that you can't influence, that makes it's way through the night in it's own special way. And it seems to last for a whole life, a new life. Right after moving in, Stevi and I became parents of a wonderful girl. Almost daily I wrote new songs that I wanted to record as quickly as possible. At first I tried it by myself, because I wanted to make sure I sounded like 'me' without any outside influences or help. But things turned out differently - I was supposed to learn to trust again and soon I realized that I would not be able to put all my ideas into reality on my own. It would have taken me years, cause I am neither trained in using a Neve mixing console nor in playing many different instruments. One day I thought about what it would mean to really trust someone, and that this only would be possible if I would put all my confidence in that person. With that a whole new process began. I started to record the album with very close friends, and discovered treasures I never would have found by myself, because I would certainly have gotten lost along the way. In the backyard house behind our castle is Arno's recording studio. Arno and I are good friends, we live together in the community and listen to the same music. To record the album with him was somehow foregone. Alongside Stevi on bass and Burki on drums I was looking for musician friends who would be able to feel my songs and allow them to happen. Cris and Fil, good musician friends from Dresden, who play viola and cello and i met in our castle bar and started creating sound carpets for many of the songs on the album. The whole rehearsing process on " Before The Mountains" did not have the taste of work to it, that I experienced most of the time. It rather had something transcendental, not hearable for the fast consumer. I also met up with a guitar player from Berlin who I had heard on a friends album. We played the first few songs in the castle's knight room, which has inspiring acoustics and soon started to 'swim' in melodies. Those were very uplifting hours and we declared Mat to be our 'Melody Man'. A friend from Vancouver joined us for two weeks to help with the sound and Arno provided the best mics, an analog board, tape machine etc. Etc. He also made sure that all the instruments sounded as good and as natural as possible. During the process of recording I felt very relaxed and content. No doubt that this team was the right one. Burki and I started to lay the foundation for the album and recorded almost all songs 'live' within three days. The other instruments followed. Without Sanne, an important part of our community we all probably would have starved. She cooked for us daily and turned the castle bar into our living room. Without Hanna I could not have done this recording: she lovingly took care of my little daughter and helped me with anything else that needed to be done. A whole creative process which was set loose by the recording continues. The video to the single "What a Happy Life" (you can find it on YouTube) would never have come to life if creative friends hadn't been part of it. Right now friends are helping with the distribution of my album, and we are all learning from each other. I´m excited to see where all this leads..