Kingfisher is the forthcoming album from Northumbrian alternative folk troubadours The Brothers Gillespie. It’s due to be released on the 10th October 2026 with a launch concert at the Queen’s Hall in Hexham, followed by a 12 date UK tour.
The Brothers Gillespie (siblings James and Sam Gillespie) are still something of a secret on the UK music scene and yet they have a dedicated following all over the land. Their music, with its soaring harmony, fingerstyle guitar and the increasingly diverse sonic textures of their new record, is distinctive for its spiritual heart and radical edge.
They draw inspiration from many currents including their traditional roots, lineages of romantic and mystical poets and time spent wandering the land, sleeping out in all weathers. They are modern bards with a wild muse. As filmmaker Eamon Bourke puts it:
‘In an amnesiac culture so scornful and afraid of magic, The Brothers Gillespie sing spells of remembering. There’s a defiance in their music that exists everywhere in nature and nowhere in the algorithm. A defiance that says we are here to love and be loved in return… they invite you into the ceremony of this life’.
The Brothers Gillespie’s new album Kingfisher is a collection of songs born of deepening into life and its terrain of love, loss, grief and longing. These are songs dreamed into being on the banks of two rivers of the northern borderlands, the Tweed and Tyne, and are suffused with riverine life, light and image. The album is a song tothe old ways, to the quiet wisdoms of the wild, a rallying call to the praise makers.
Kingfisher was recorded in June 2026 in rural Wiltshire with producer/recording engineer Gus White. Alongside the multi-instrumentalism and vocal harmonies of The Brothers Gillespie, the recording sessions brought together a brilliant band of Jen Hill (co-producer of BBC Radio 2 album of the year Songs Of Separation) on double bass, Tim Lane (Hidden Orchestra) on percussion/ tongue drum and Nick Jenkins on fiddle. Following brief rehearsals that crackled with energy, the band hit the road down from the north and got straight into the studio. There it quickly became apparent that a spirit of celebration was animating the gathering. Kingfisher captures the festive coming together of a new band with just the right producer, a joyful meeting of comrades.
On Kingfisher the band and the producer are united by a shared devotion to much of the music of the folk revival and the beauty of the analogue age. The recordings are based around live performances and contain the sound of the room, laughter, occasional birdsong and the wind through the trees, and were recorded using vintage microphones and instruments over ten bright and intense June days. The addition of the luscious vocals of Jemima Thewes, Darla Eno and Daisy Martinez was the final thread in the weave of the album’s rich, organic sound. Gus White’s use of tape and analogue equipment during the mixing process steeps the album in a vintage warmth and intimacy that perfectly suits the music, and mastering engineer Alex Killpartrick gracefully added the finishing touches.
Kingfisher will be released on digital streaming services, Bandcamp, CD and vinyl LP, featuring album art by renowned UK artist Cathy Fisher.
Artists’ website: www.thebrothersgillespie.com
‘The Pilgrim’s Song’ (ignore the dodgy spelling) – live:
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