Sunday, 19 May 2019

Thea Gilmore - Small World Turning


Rating: 5/5

Review:
Another fine album from Thea Gilmore

Small World Turning is yet another very fine album from Thea Gilmore. It’s perhaps not one of her very greatest (in which class I’d put the masterpieces which are Avalanche, Murphy’s Heart and Regardless) but it’s still real quality.

There’s the mix we’ve come to expect of sharp political comment (The Revisionist is an excellent example) and lovely, moving songs about love and human relations. All the Thea trademarks are still here: great and sometimes astonishingly brilliant lyrics; beautiful melodies, sometimes with with slightly unusual chord sequences; sequences of extraordinary images… It’s great stuff.

I have to say that occasionally the trademarks spill over slightly into the sense that I’ve heard this before. Glory, for example, bears quite a strong musical and structural resemblance to Heads Will Roll, with the “Amens” from Automatic Blue thrown in. That’s fine with me – they’re two great songs – but Thea Gilmore is such an original, innovative songwriter that it’s a bit of a surprise.

This small caveat aside, it’s a really good album from one of our finest songwriters and warmy recommended.

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