Album Review: AFTERLIGHT (Thea Gilmore) – Afterlight

November 30th, 2021 by alanjones

Mighty Village Records - [Release date: 01.10.21]

What’s a woman to do when the life that you’ve led for over twenty years reveals itself over time to be a stifling, coercive relationship that’s dominated your life and musical career?

The answer for Thea Gilmore, one of the finest singer/songwriters this country has produced, is to bail out, change your name and then write about it all in an attempt to exorcise your demons and move on.

So, she’s changed her performing name to Afterlight, written it all down and delivered an album of staggering intensity.

For this is a raw and unbridled dive into someone’s very soul – something she obviously felt the need to do and something for which we should all be grateful.

The twelve tracks here are bookended by two spoken pieces; ‘Of All The Violence I Have Known’ and ‘Last’.

The former is a powerful insight into a coercive relationship and the fear that lurks beneath what appears, outwardly anyway, benign – described with lines that pull you up sharp – “the longest mark by far is the slow assassination of the years…” Thea uses a good number of people to deliver the words, presumably to show that this can happen to anyone.

The latter is a piece spoken by Thea alone – less a poem, more a reclaiming of self against a backdrop of a life lived on somebody else’s terms. Powerful stuff.

The musical journey in between ranges from the almost catchy ‘Friendly Little Heart Attack’ – its cheery percussive acoustic riff a decoy for the acerbic lyrics within – to the darker recesses of ‘Stain’, ‘Chekhov’s Gun’ and the beautiful ballad ‘The Ghost Of Love’.

‘Parallax’ is acoustic-led with excellent percussion and details how different viewpoints don’t align (very clever) and one of the many highlights – along with ‘Cut And Run’ whose piano-led balladry includes lines such as “I’m broken again. And the sun’s coming in. Where the night is lifting up her dress…”

Throughout, the songwriting is peerless, the lyrics frequently disturbing and the musicianship exemplary – just like any other Thea Gilmore album – but this time there’s a personal perspective and a depth of emotion that has the capacity to stop you in your tracks.

Not an easy listen, but an album of startling intensity, beautifully recorded and, hopefully, a go-to listen for anyone who feels they can empathise with her.

Albums like this come around far too infrequently – we should all take the opportunity to listen when they do. *****

Review by Alan Jones

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)