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The Churchhill Garden, based in Switzerland, is the musical brainchild of Andy Jossi. Although Andy originally began playing guitar around 20 years old, it wasn’t until over 15 years later that he actually began writing songs. There isn’t much local support in Switzerland for the style of music he writes and he also never had the desire to play live. Under those circumstances, it proved difficult for him to find other musicians to play with locally. After putting the guitar down for many years, Andy decided to eventually pick it back up again. When he did, he began operating as a “one man band”.
The Churchhill Garden started out as an experimental creative outlet, with a “let’s just see what happens” type of songwriting and recording process. However, it eventually became much more than that. Andy ended up writing many beautiful songs that have gone on to be loved by listeners around the world and have left a lasting impression on his fans. He did not want to sing on his songs, so initially all of his releases were instrumentals. While those songs truly did have a life of their own, Andy felt like some of them would be more complete if he had a vocalist to sing on the tracks. He started reaching out to musicians that he admired, with voices he hoped might compliment his songs. Fortunately he was able to find several who were willing to collaborate, all of whom brought a very unique sound to his music. He began writing with many different talented vocalists, from all across the world, including Hideka (Japan), Craig Douglas (Omega Vague / USA), Alister Douglas (Blush Response / Australia) and Ben Aylward (Swirl /Australia).
As fate would then have it, around 2 years ago, Andy and Krissy VanderWoude(Whimsical / USA) crossed paths. After hearing a few Churchhill songs, Krissy had fallen in love with Andy’s music and reached out to pay him a compliment, under one of his song posts. A mutual friend of theirs (Kev Cleary) saw her comments and suggested that they collaborate on a song together. Andy and Krissy loved the idea and went on from there to write the song “Same Sky”. They soon discovered that they were truly a musical match made in Heaven and knew that this was only the beginning of what was to come of their songwriting together. There is an undeniable synergy that happens between them and they both feel that the songs come together so effortlessly. Their songwriting process is a true collaboration, full of heart and inspiration, and something that they both really enjoy being a part of.
The ethereal and enchanting “Heartbeat” is the 6th song that they are releasing together and they have no plans to ever stop. At this point, although he will still continue to collaborate with other vocalists as well, Andy considers Krissy to be a permanent member of The Churchhill Garden.
As you listen to “Heartbeat”, and all of the other songs that they have done together, you will hear many of their influences coming through. People most often reference to hearing the inspiration of The Cure, Cocteau Twins, and Slowdive in Churchhill songs. Andy and Krissy both grew up listening to so many different styles of music, which allows them to draw from a large pool of musical influence. This helps to keep their music sounding innovative and original, with no two songs sounding alike.
There is always a “signature sound” to the songs, making them identifiable as The Churchhill Garden, but the music definitely cannot be pigeonholed into any one genre. Instead, it will often cross over into many genres, all within one song. This might have something to do with the fact that almost every song is 7:00+ minutes long, but they both feel that it takes time to paint the right picture. They want their listeners to have an experience while listening to the song, be inspired to daydream, forget about time and be lost in the moment. They hope that is exactly what will happen as you listen to their latest, “Heartbeat”.
