Thea Gilmore

Thea Gilmore - Harpo’s Ghost - 2006 - Sanctuary

"(Thea Gilmore) is an amazingly talented singer with an angelic voice and talent that runs deep." -The Celebrity Cafe

"Gilmore is already in a league of her own." - Q

"Gilmore is articulate, poignant but unsentimental, melodically gifted, and knows how to rock." - USA Today

"Gilmore's reputation as the most coherent, literate and charged British singer-songwriter of her generation is well founded." - Mojo

"The best British singer-songwriter of the last 10 years." - Uncut

One of the U.K.'s most promising singer/songwriters returns after nearly a three-year absence. In the interim, Thea Gilmore had been diagnosed with clinical depression, dealt with serious illness in her family, and split with a longtime romantic partner. All of this was sure to affect her music, but Harpo's Ghost still feels like a natural successor to 2003's breakthrough release, Avalanche. Harpo's Ghost is produced again by guitarist Nigel Stonier, who isn't afraid to place Gilmore's breathy, sexy voice in a variety of edgy settings. The trick is to stuff the artist's plentiful lyrics into a vehicle that focuses attention on them yet allows her melodies to flourish, and Stonier succeeds wonderfully, shifting from the almost punkish attack of "Cheap Tricks" to the widescreen, primarily acoustic "Contessa," which borrows a few sonic tricks from U2. Both songs approach Gilmore's voice from different but equally sympathetic directions. The trip-hop traces that colored her previous work appear fleetingly on the opening "The Gambler" (not the Kenny Rogers song), but are otherwise gone now, replaced with a tougher guitar-based quartet sound on the rocking "We Built a Monster" and the circular guitar and organ of the funky and politically scathing "Everybody's Numb." Gilmore can sound both sublime and angry as she spits out "the United States of emptiness" lyrics to the latter, with pounding drums and percussion hammering home the point. Matters of the heart still power Gilmore's muse, especially when she unleashes "Call Me Your Darling," a dark love song with an inescapable hook of a chorus that stands as the album's most likely single. Stonier keeps the singer's magnificent voice up front where it belongs, and double-tracks her own harmonies to impressive effect on the ominous "Going Down," a cut that might concern her bout with depression and the problems of the previous few years. Harpo's Ghost is a strong, triumphant return for Thea Gilmore. It deserves to be the album that exposes her formidable vocal, lyrical, and melodic talents to a larger audience, especially in the States. © Hal Horowitz © 2014 AllMusic, a division of All Media Network, LLC. | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/harpos-ghost-mw0000443079

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED SINGER SONGWRITER THEA GILMORE, “The Most Provocative Songwriter To Emerge From England In Years” (USA Today),RETURNS WITH HARPO’S GHOST: Hailed as “The best British singer-songwriter of the last 10 years – and then some” by British music magazine UNCUT and called “So good, she’s scary” by MOJO, Thea Gilmore returns after a 2 ½ year break with a riveting new album, Harpo’s Ghost, due in stores August 29th via Sanctuary Records. The CD already has the seal of approval from influential Los Angeles radio station KCRW, who began playing “The Gambler” off the album early this summer. It won’t be long before stateside audiences agree that “Gilmore is already in a league of her own” (Q Magazine). USA Today named her “the most provocative songwriter to emerge from England in years,” praising her biting missives on life in the 21st century that remarkably remain caustic and beautiful at the same time. Topics veering from love, sex, death, globalization, corporate and celebrity culture, politics and wars (both personal and global) are delivered by Gilmore’s fists dressed in kid gloves, earning her the description ‘hellraiser with a voice like honey.’ Standouts include “Red White and Black,” written after touring with Joan Baez, ruminates over war and patriotism, “Everybody’s Numb” leaves no one safe from Gilmore’s arrows and Contessa drowns in melancholy. Produced by Nigel Stonier and mixed by Steve Evans (fresh from his acclaimed work on Robert Plant’s Mighty Re-Arranger album), the record also features a guest appearance on backing vocals (on three tracks) from longstanding friend and acclaimed singer/songwriter Kathryn Williams, as well as two Mike Scott co-writes. - posted by & © Shelia, 2:44 PM Tuesday, August 01, 2006 © 2006 E-Spire Entertainment News http://e-spire.blogspot.ie/2006/08/thea-gilmore-releases-harpos-ghost.html

After releasing six albums in four years, Harpo's Ghost comes after a two-and-a-half year break. All that, and Thea Gilmore is still only in her mid-twenties. With beefier production, her ambitious songs here take on staggering dimensions. there's everything from the hypnotic pummeling of "Everybody's Numb" to the magic forest of "Whistle and Steam" and the brassy pop of "Cheap Tricks." After the auspicious round of early albums that commenced in her teens, she's grown even further with both her lyrics and melodies. Gilmore has never shied away from social issues and topical matters, but continues to excel in making the sentiments more universal by giving them poetic dimensions which enhance their resonance. She's equally at home with the small details which give life to character-driven narratives, as well as turning her attentions towards romantic quandaries and longing. © David Greenberger (Editorial Review, Amazon.com © 1996-2014, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates http://www.amazon.com/Harpos-Ghost-Thea-Gilmore/dp/B000H0M524)

How many people have heard of One Direction, Cheryl Cole, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, etc., etc.? How many people have listened to or even heard of Lucy Kaplansky, James McMurtry, Kyla Brox, or Thea Gilmore? The music business is a sick joke. Eric Ambleside on amazon.co.uk speaking about one of Thea’s albums said, "Another outstanding and horribly underrated and overlooked artist. Tragic in the face of all of the third-rate tat out there that sells in such vast quantities". Uncut magazine hailed Thea as "the best British singer-songwriter of the last 10 years...and then some." The Oxford folk-rock singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore is an unheralded but mega-talented English singer/songwriter who doesn't care about commercial, radio friendly songs. She has an irresistible voice, writes great lyrics, and is totally uncompromising with her music. She is certainly not recording for the money. "Harpo’s Ghost” is another great album of folk, pop, rock, blues, and Americana. Thea is strongly influenced by artists like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and The Beatles and you can hear those influences on most of her albums. You may find the album a “slow burner”, but many of the best albums are. In 2014 she will be 35 y.o with 15 albums released. She has had a fair degree of success, but not nearly enough and she remains one of the great "undiscovered" singer/songwriters. Great musicians and musicologists like Jools Holland have referred to the talents of this lady. It’s a shame that more people in the music industry don’t give Thea Gilmore more time. But the “music” industry isn’t about music anymore, is it? “Harpo’s Ghost” is HR by A.O.O.F.C. Check out Thea’s “The Lipstick Conspiracies” and “Burning Dorothy” albums. Buy her "Murphy's Heart" or "Avalanche" albums and promote brilliant contemporary folk rock and real music, and check this blog for more Thea Gilmore material. [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 120 Mb]

TRACKS

1 The Gambler 4:28
2 Everybody’s Numb 3:46
3 Red White And Black 4:12
4 Call Me Your Darling 3:41
5 We Built A Monster 3:21
6 The List 4:06
7 Going Down 3:10
8 Whistle And Steam 4:07
9 Cheap Tricks 3:39
10 Contessa 4:57
11 Slow Journey II 4:01 [includes Hidden Bonus Track 12 “Play Until The Bottles Gone” @ 5:31 into track]

All songs composed by Thea Gilmore except Track 5 by Thea Gilmore & Mike Scott, Track 8 by Thea Gilmore, Mike Scott & Nigel Stonier, and Track 12 by Thea Gilmore & Nigel Stonier

MUSICIANS

Thea Gilmore - Electric & Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals, Background Vocals, Harmonium, Whistle, Human Whistle
Nigel Stonier - Electric & Acoustic Guitar, Bass Pedals, Dulcimer, Harmonica, Organ, Hammond Organ, Wurlitzer, Harmonium, Ukulele, Background Vocals
Eric "Roscoe" Ambel - Electric Guitar, Harmonium
Jim Kirkpatrick - Electric Guitar, Dobro, Background Vocals
Steve Evans - Electric Guitar, Wurlitzer Piano
Ewan Davies - Electric Guitar, E-Bow Electric Guitar, Programming, Percussion
Dave Hull Denholm - Acoustic Guitar, Vocal Harmony, Background Vocals
Ian Thomson, Jo Wadeson - Bass
James Hallawell - Hammond Organ
Paul Beavis, John Tonks - Drums, Percussion
Laura Reid - Cello
Kathryn Williams, Mary Lee Kortez - Background Vocals

BIO

Born in 1979 in Oxford, England. Addresses: Record company--Compass Records, 117 30th Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37212, website: http://www.compassrecords.com. Website--Thea Gilmore Official Website: http://www.theagilmore.com. When American independent singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco sang "I could be the million that you never made," she could have very well been singing about Thea Gilmore, a British singer/songwriter who has made a virtue out of her autonomy. While major recording labels have offered her contracts, she is content to create and distribute her albums through Shameless in United Kingdom and Compass in the United States. "When they say, 'We'll give you a modest amount of money and you can choose who you work with and how you sound,'" she told Caroline Sullivan in the Guardian, "then I'll talk." The bottom line for Gilmore is more about making good music than financial success. "It gets made if you believe in what you're doing," she told Nick Hasted in the Independent, "it comes from somewhere inside you that not many other people can reach. Nobody can tell me how to get there. I have to do it on my own." Gilmore was born in 1979 in Oxford, the same region that produced British bands like Radiohead and Supergrass. Her father, a chiropractor, provided her with a sound musical background when he introduced her to Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and the Beatles. Later, she listened to Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, and the Replacements, and generally avoided the bands that were popular with her peers. Gilmore, who began writing poetry at the age of 15 to cope with her parents' divorce, won awards for her writing. She left home at 16, hoping to turn her poetry into songs, and found a job working at the legendary Woodworm studio, where the folk-rock group Fairport Convention had recorded. There she met producer Nigel Stonier who listened to a tape of her early songs. "She had this quiet intensity about her, and striking intelligence," he told David Bowman in Salon. "I guess you kinda knew she was someone who'd be successful in whatever field she chose." Stonier agreed to produce her first EP. In 1999 at the age of 19, Gilmore released Burning Dorothy on Shameless Records. She consciously chose a low-key start to her musical career, hoping to avoid the quick rise and fall of many young singers at major recording labels. "I figured that there weren't many people having sustained careers in the music industry any more," she told Andy Coleman in the Birmingham Evening Mail. "I wanted a chance to develop my music at a pace that suited me, not to be bound by industry standards." In 2000 she released her sophomore effort, Lipstick Conspiracy. Gilmore's break came with her third album in 2001, Rules for Jokers. Unlike her earlier efforts, she utilized a full band to create a sound that ranged from folk to rock and everything in between. The acoustic guitar and lyrical barrage of "Apparition No. 12" reached back to the surrealism of 1960s Bob Dylan, while the brash "Benzedrine" combined the best of punk and new wave. "Pleasingly intelligent and forthright with her original lyrics and offering an interesting variety of musical sounds," wrote Jenny Ivor in Rambles, "this girl is mature before her time." The album received another boost when Gilmore signed with American label Compass. After Rules for Jokers, Gilmore went back to the studio to record a song for a Bob Dylan tribute album--and unintentionally recorded her fourth album. After finishing Dylan's "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" rather quickly, she remained behind while the band took a break at the local pub. Alone in the studio, she started writing and soon had enough material for several songs. "When the band came back," she told Bowman, "I asked them to play what I'd written. It was recorded in two days. We didn't intend it to come out until the point where it was sitting on the table in front of us and we said, 'What are we going to do with this?'" The seven compositions became Songs from the Gutter, released at the beginning of 2003. Later that same year Gilmore returned with Avalanche, an album appearing on many "best of" lists at the end of the year. "In a dingy pub on the other side of the pond," wrote Sarah Liss in Toronto's NOW Magazine, "Tom Waits is reborn as a 22-year-old woman with a voice steeped in red wine and regret and a gift for lyrical storytelling that'd make any writer feel like a pathetic hack." She was joined in the studio by electric guitarist Robbie McIntosh (from the Pretenders), cellist Oliver Kraus, and Stonier on keyboards, a band that created a vibrant underpinning to gentle ballads like "Juliet (Keep That in Mind)." "She's already proved herself one of Britain's most potent lyricists," wrote Colin Irwin in Mojo, "but with producer Nigel Stonier also turning in a match-winning performance, Avalanche nudges her into a new recording arena entirely." The release of the Avalanche single "Mainstream" caused a small controversy: Its cover art by Ian Brown mocked Mattel's Barbie doll. When the company threatened a lawsuit, the cover was withdrawn. Speaking about the uproar, Gilmore explained that she really wasn't sure what sparked Mattel's objection. "I'm pretty sure Mattel couldn't give a d**n what Barbie has come to represent as long as their end-of-year figures add up," she told Adam McKibbin on the Suite 101 website. Gilmore's gifts as a lyricist and prolific songwriter separate her from her peers and have made her something of an anomaly in the music business. At the age of 23 she has recorded five albums and found a modicum of success without relying on major label advertising and distribution. In 2004 she embarked on her first North American tour and began recording an album of covers, including a version Neil Young's "Old Laughing Lady." Her multiple styles and do-it-yourself mentality defy easy categorization, but she wouldn't have it any other way. "Some people write me off as some waily folky woman." she told Bowman. "Other people think I'm rock. In terms of an image, if you want to be cold and corporate about it, it's hard to decide who my target market is. There isn't one. There is no box that I can be put in." by & © Ronnie D. Lankford Jr © 2013 Net Industries - All Rights Reserved http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004084/Thea-Gilmore.html

MORE

Singer/songwriter Thea Gilmore was born to Irish parents in 1979. While coming of age in North Aston, Oxfordshire in England, she ignored the new wave reign of the '80s and instead began to seek out her parents' Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell albums. Later, she found comfort in the work of Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, and the Replacements, naturally absorbing the intelligence behind each artist's work. Gilmore began writing poetry and short stories to amuse herself amidst her conventional surroundings, but she needed something more tangible. She left home at age 16 to go work in a recording studio. Gilmore also founded her own Shameless Records and released her debut album, Burning Dorothy, in 1998. The Lipstick Conspiracies and the As If EP followed two years later, and Gilmore's star power started to buzz. In the new millennium, Gilmore inked a deal with Compass in the U.S. and finally graced American shores with the 2002 release of Rules for Jokers. Gilmore's third album, 2003's Avalanche, was a much more daring effort for her, and the single "Juliet" earned her her first Top 40 hit in the U.K. A year later, Gilmore released a collection of cover songs entitled Loft Music. This self-released effort featured Gilmore's renditions of songs by the Buzzcocks, Paul Westerberg, Jimmy Cliff, and the Ramones. Songs from the Gutter (2005) gathered career-spanning cuts not previously available, as well as other hidden treasures from Gilmore's catalog of unreleased material. In August 2006, Gilmore issued the emotionally charged Harpo's Ghost, her first set of original material since Avalanche. Gilmore returned with the ultra-polished Liejacker to mixed reviews in 2008, and became a parent. In typical idiosyncratic fashion, she recorded the seasonal holiday collection Strange Communion, issuing it in 2009 and, in lieu of a new studio offering, released the half-acoustic/half-electric live set Recorded Delivery in 2010. In 2011 Gilmore returned to recording with partner and co-producer Nigel Stonier and co-producer/engineer Mike Cave for her 11th studio offering, Murphy's Heart, recorded both in Liverpool and in Ventura, California. The cast of 13 musicians for these sessions was her largest to date. Returning to the studio once again with Stonier, Gilmore set about to record 2011's John Wesley Harding, a complete reworking of the album by Bob Dylan. Gilmore followed this up with Don't Stop Singing, a specially recorded collaborative album with the late Sandy Denny. Two years later, after giving birth to her second son, Gilmore returned with 2013's Regardless. © MacKenzie Wilson © 2014 AllMusic, a division of All Media Network, LLC. | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/thea-gilmore-mn0000491034/biography