Liejacker

Thea Gilmore

Thea Gilmore Biog 2008

THEA GILMORE, – described by Uncut Magazine as “the best UK singer songwriter of the last ten years, and then some” – and who is cited by many of her peers, from Bruce Springsteen to Martha Wainwright, as a personal favourite, releases her career defining new album Liejacker on May 19 through Fruitcake Music.

Liejacker features some impressive collaborations: Joan Baez appears on the record, as does US Maverick songwriter Erin MacKeown, and on the first single from the album ‘Old Soul’ Gilmore duets with Zutons singer and songwriter Dave McCabe. Yet punctuated though it is with stellar guest appearances, the record is unquestionably her most personal to date.

“In the past I’ve probably been guilty of hiding a little bit,” Gilmore says, “and falling back on an image or a metaphor. But this time I was trying to get to the bone, to just tell it like it is. The genesis of this record was very different from my previous albums. It’s the first that I’ve really felt a deep burn to make.”

The songs evolved from a hugely eventful time in her life – a series of bouts with depression, a split after just one album from her previous label, a parting with her manager of 10 years, and the birth of her first child. “This new material is so personal that I wasn’t even sure at first whether I wanted the world to hear my story in quite such direct terms,” she says, “but the words kept appearing.”

Bearing out the belief that the best songs are always born out of torment, Liejacker is an uncommonly bewitching record that quietly traces a personal journey from darkness to light, and presents a return in texture to earlier stripped down acoustic records, placing the emphasis on Thea’s beguiling and achingly pure vocals. Liejacker, whose title takes a sly aside at spin and marketing cynicism, amply confirms that the singer The Independent described as “the best wordsmith of her generation” has fully come of age.

Tracklisting:

1, Old Soul feat. Dave McCabe
2. Black Letter
3. Dance In New York
4. Rosie
5. Roll On
6. Icarus Wind
7. The Wrong Side
8. Slow Journey
9. And You Shall Know No Other God But Me
10. When I Get Back To Shore
11. Breathe
12. The Lower Road feat. Joan Baez

www.theagilmore.net

www.fruitcakemusic.com

Release Date:
2008/05/19