Thea Gilmore releases “Small World Turning” on May 17 – her first new collection of songs since 2017’s “The Counterweight” which was her 3rd successive top 40 album. She also embarks on a UK tour with her band and support from Matt Owens (Noah And The Whale).
An artist of enduring international acclaim (Bruce Springsteen regularly names her as a favourite) and a justly revered lyricist, Gilmore’s musical settings have taken many ingenious detours in recent years. “Small World Turning” nails it’s colours to a very different wall from the get-go. Acoustic guitars are back to the fore, and a quintessentially rootsy array of instruments frame them – fiddles, whistles, mandolins, tenor banjos are all in abundance.
“Small World Turning” is an album with an unashamed folk flavor and features contributions from Cara Dillon, Seth Lakeman, Sam Lakeman, Katriona Gilmore, Jamie Roberts and BBC Radio 2’s Young Folk Award winner 2013 Ciaran Algar.
A gifted and exceptional artist at the peak of her powers, Thea Gilmore has
delivered a vibrant and deeply resonant album, rooted in folk music but
completely transcending any genre related limitations. Moreover the engine room
of the record – which contains no traditional kit drums – is a stellar and
diverse Transatlantic rhythm section of Matt Owens
(Noah And The Whale) and Michael Blair (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello).
But “Small World Turning” is no hollow parade of the famous. As is ever the case with Thea Gilmore, it’s the songs that define and dazzle, and the 11 new compositions on display are a blend of melodic lilt and dark brooding choruses, with lyrics that repeatedly hold up a magnifying glass to 2019 England and impale greed, bigotry, class divide and hoarded wealth.