ONE of the most engaging products of the Oxford music scene, Thea Gilmore knows the city’s gig venues better than most. But even as a respected singer-songwriter there is one stage which has eluded her... until now.
Reputed to be the oldest purpose-built music venue in Europe, the Holywell Music Room is intimate but rarefied, having played host to many a star of the classical music world. Tonight (Friday, November 11), the historic space’s pin drop acoustics will resound to Thea’s finely-crafted tunes in a gig to showcase her new EP.
“I’ve played many Oxford venues from the Jericho to the Jam Factory and, of course, loads of times at The Zodiac. But to play at the Holywell Music Room is pretty special,” she says.
“My mum keeps checking that I definitely have the right venue. Her take is pretty much: ‘It just seems too refined for your sort of music!’
“I like to think I’ll bring a bit of grit to to the dreaming spires, though. Hopefully there’ll be no nightmares but I’ve never been one to shy away from the trickier subjects.”
Hailing from the village of North Aston, near Bicester, we first heard of Thea with her breakthrough album Avalanche, released in 2003 when she was when she was just 23. It spawned singles Juliet (Keep That in Mind) and Mainstream and was good enough to earn her an invitation from Joan Baez to support her on tour in the US the following year. Her 2006 follow-up Harpo’s Ghost brought her to a wider audience.
She has been prolific since; 2013’s Regardless, 2015’s Ghosts and Graffiti, 2017’s The Counterweight, and 2019’s Small World Turning all denting the album charts, getting as high as number 39.
Her evocative music has also made it onto the screen, with songs featuring in Olivia Coleman’s film Joyride, Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, Blithe Spirit starring Judi Dench, and the BAFTAaward-winning Bait.
As well as Baez, her fans include Bruce Springsteen, Martha Wainwright, John Cooper Clarke, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Beth Orton and writer Neil Gaiman – who described her critically lauded landmark 20th album Afterlight, as “an emotional rollercoaster in a musical wrapper... a post mortem with better lyrics, executed by someone who can sing her heart out even as she slices into yours.”
That musical talent was forged in the white heat of Oxford’s 90s and early 2000s music scene.
“I was born in the John Radcliffe and grew up about 10 miles north of the city,” she says. “When I started making and releasing music, Radiohead had just hit their megastar stride and it seemed like Oxford was the centre of the indie-boy universe.
“I don’t think anyone knew what to do with this tall, precocious girl who wasn’t even old enough to legally drink, let alone earn her stripes playing up and down Cowley Road like all the other bands had, so I had a rough run with the indie music press in Oxford as a teenager.
That musical talent was forged in the white heat of Oxford’s 90s and early 2000s music scene.
“I was born in the John Radcliffe and grew up about 10 miles north of the city,” she says. “When I started making and releasing music, Radiohead had just hit their megastar stride and it seemed like Oxford was the centre of the indie-boy universe.
“I don’t think anyone knew what to do with this tall, precocious girl who wasn’t even old enough to legally drink, let alone earn her stripes playing up and down Cowley Road like all the other bands had, so I had a rough run with the indie music press in Oxford as a teenager.
“It kind of fuelled my determination though, and toughened me up for criticism later on. I earned a different kind of stripe I guess.”
The new EP is the first of four which build into a full-length album to be released next year. Each will feature four tracks including a cover.
“I’m really excited to be releasing new music,” she says. “The lead track, Bones, delves into what it means to be a woman,” she says. “I wanted to herald those who came before and paved the way, forging the steel of womanhood to create an undeniable and undefeatable truth that cannot be erased.”
She adds: “It speaks of history and connection. How we draw on our past to create a future. It’s rare that I write I song I can truly say I’m in love with, but this is one.
“Talking Out of Tune is more personal, an acknowledgement of how past relationships cast a shadow over the present to sound a discordant ring,” she elaborates. “While Hope and Fury looks back even further – to childhood – to remind us to stay true to our beginnings and reclaim the person we could have been.”
There is also a cover of 90s alternative rockers Gin Blossoms’ hit Hey Jealousy. Follow up IS will follow in January.
“The last few years has been a really turbulent period of change for me – and everyone else,” she adds. “The music I’m sending out into the world represents a rebirth of sorts – with me firmly at the wheel.
“I’m loving playing the new songs live to audiences as well as lots of old ones and have been so lucky that even after the pandemic, people are still returning to my gigs in the same numbers.
“There is nothing more special than standing in a room sharing music with people. It’s the sort of connection and communion that we all need and never more so than post lockdowns.
“It is a precious exchange and one that I feel ridiculously grateful to be able to call a job.”
Which brings us back to the Holywell.
“This is a home gig in all senses,” she says. “Home because live music is my safe place, home because Oxfordshire is where I’m from, even though I haven’t lived there for many years, and home because it’ll be a room full of family, both known and unknown. Because when you share songs, you tie knots that aren’t easily undone.”
- Thea Gilmore plays the Holywell Music Room tonight, Friday, November 11. See wegottickets.com
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