James and Sam Gillespie look a bit like old-fashioned folkies – they remind me a bit of the young Dransfields in that respect. They sound modern, though, with a variety of instruments and precise harmonies and a very contemporary feel to their songwriting even married as it is to old-fashioned ideas. It’s easy to understand their appeal. The Brothers Gillespie hail from Northumbria and their fourth album, Kingfisher, is rooted physically and emotionally in that landscape and its history. They are supported by percussionist Tim Lane, Jen Hill on double bass, fiddler Nick Jenkins, producer Gus White and three backing vocalists. So much for the facts.
Really, I’d just like to say that Kingfisher is a gorgeous album and you’ll love it but I know I can’t get away with that. Just stay with the thought. The opening track, ‘The Worlds Unfold’, presents the brothers’ voices in harmony over a finger-picked guitar decorated by Jenkins’ fiddle. It’s a philosophical piece based on the passage of a day. Sam’s guitar is the driving force on ‘Snowdrop Song’ bringing an urgency to a song set in a mythical countryside where the pace of life is more human. It’s a nice contradiction. Oisín is a figure from Irish mythology, regarded as Ireland’s greatest poet and Sam switches to banjo for ‘Oisín’s Song’, a tribute rather than a retelling of one the legends.
From the broad sweep of Irish legend the brothers come home for ‘Tweed One’, a very personal song about family and place and memory. In this song it’s easy to pick out cadences from the tradition, rooting itself even more firmly in history. ‘Anam Cara’ definitely requires some research if you haven’t encountered the phrase before. We return to the celtic world – the phrase means “Soul Friend” and is a concept that is found is both Irish and Welsh spiritual traditions. See John O’Donohue’s book Anam Ċara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom for further enlightenment. The song itself features the drone of James’ shruti box and a fragile vocal that is admirably suited to the subject.
‘Golden Hilltop’ is the first of two instrumental tracks, this one led by acoustic guitar, followed by ‘House Of Shelter’, set in the forest but with a great sadness – “come and lay your burden down” is the refrain, rather in the style of a spiritual. The modern world intrudes in the shape of ‘Till Palestine Is Free’, the politics buried in a song set on the banks of the Tweed and, speaking of which, ‘Tweed Two’ is a series of memories set in an unspecified past time. Finally, a second instrumental, ‘Humming Song’, brings the set to a close.
I said at the beginning that Kingfisher is a gorgeous album and so it is. There is so much going on, so many hints of the songs’ traditional roots that you’re at home with it from the first notes. Invite it in to sit by the fire and share a glass.
Dai Jeffries
Artists’ website: www.thebrothersgillespie.com
‘The Worlds Unfold’:
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