Album review: THEA GILMORE – These Quiet Friends

January 23rd, 2025 by alanjones

Self Released at theagilmore.net [Release date: 28.02.25]

We’ve all got them. Those songs we turn to in times of trouble, joy and sadness to help us get through – songs that lift the spirit and are the companions of shared experience.

And over the past few years Thea Gilmore has had a lot to go through following the breakdown of her marriage – exposed in all its excoriating detail on her last two albums, ‘Afterlight’ from 2021 and her first eponymously titled work, ‘Thea Gilmore’ from 2023, both of which raised the bar in quality from her usual ‘outstanding’ to ‘simply stunning’ and suggesting the freedom to control her own musical creativity now has free rein.

But now she’s looking back, on her first album of covers since 2003’s ‘Loft Music’, at the songs that have affected her at various stages of her life – although the track-list would suggest a lot, but by no means all, have had plenty of play more recently.

‘These Quiet Friends’ is an apposite name for a beautiful album of acoustic versions of a wide range of songs dating from as far back as the 1930′s right up to the 2010s and including more genres than you could shake a stick at.

Things get underway with Kander and Ebbs’ ‘Cabaret’, which sets the scene for what follows with Thea’s familiar mezzo-soprano voice and tasteful acoustic giving a great song a contemporary twist.

And so it follows with the other ten tracks, with Springsteen’s ‘Dancing In The Dark’ rubbing shoulders with Blur’s ‘End Of A Century’ and Echo & The Bunnymen’s acerbic ‘The Killing Moon’ and older songs such as ‘Crazy He Calls Me’ by Billie Holiday and back to the 60s with The Velvet Underground’s ‘Sunday Morning’.

Using the aforementioned description, there are a few here that rise from ‘outstanding’ to ‘simply stunning’ – Guns ’n’ Roses’ ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ is magnificent in its simplicity, ‘Hey Jealousy’ by the Gin Blossoms (one of my own favourite songs) takes on a new persona with female vocals, as does the marvellous version of R.E.M’s ‘Everybody Hurts’ and Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking Ball’ (a guilty pleasure, I confess) has its caustic lyrics truly hitting home in an acoustic setting.

The album closes out with the curveball of Patience & Prudence’s 1956 ditty ‘Tonight You Belong To Me’ which sounds like it’s been recorded in a hillbilly shack – just to add that little bit of authenticity…

Thea Gilmore has crafted an album here that imbues a haunting acoustic sheen to well known songs and, indeed, enhances the iconic status of many of them – her voice, as ever, is peerless and the acoustic guitar and piano a perfect accompaniment.

Songs to inspire, songs to comfort and songs that calm – they’re all here, delivered with breathtaking skill and empathy by an artist at the top of her game. *****

Review by Alan Jones

From 28 February we publish a retrospective about Thea Gilmore in a new series “GRTR! Greats”.

GRTR! Greats (Thea Gilmore, plus interview)

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