THEA GILMORE JUNE UK TOUR

THEA GILMORE

RELEASES VIDEO FOR  'NEW' WATCH HERE THE COUNTERWEIGHT BRAND NEW ALBUM Out June 2nd through Cooking Vinyl JUNE UK TOUR

Tuesday 2^nd May: Thea Gilmore has released the video for her latest single 'New', which was filmed by legendary music photographer Roger Sargent. The single premiered on Radio 2 last week on Ken Bruce's show with further spins across the station. It's the second single to be taken from The Counterweight, which is out on June 2^nd through Cooking Vinyl and follows the recent track 'Sounds Good To Me', which has also been getting support across Radio 2. You can pre-order the album here.
 

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR 'NEW' HERE

Taking a more electric approach than before, 'New' chimes with the upbeat positivity that reflects the album's themes of hope whereas the video takes a darker, counterweighted approach to the song's meaning.

Thea says, "To all songwriters – let alone one like me – the challenge of writing down positive emotions is far more of a challenge than expressing dark stuff. It's often said that if you're feeling great there are better things to do than sit down and write songs. That said, the light moments in life, the new starts, are not to be forgotten or taken lightly... so for once I just let it all out." 

Roger Sargent explains, "The idea for the video was to take the stance that though the song is really upbeat and poppy, Thea is a little ill at ease embracing the "light" so we both wanted to inject a little shade into the whole thing - tongue firmly placed in cheek as it were! I wanted Thea to do the song as a one shot, single take, and deliver the lines as if she were not wholly convinced of what she was singing. The animated "doodles" reaffirm the incongruity. They're like the notepad doodles we all do, instead of writing or working, come to life. The sort that show the workings of our subconscious mind. "

The Counterweight is Thea's first studio album for four years and is a forthright and uncompromising return, following 2015's career compilation 'Ghosts & Graffiti'. The album is bursting with passion and echoes the rapid change in our social and political landscape that 2016 brought with it.

When finishing the album in September, Thea was forced to look back at the spring and summer recording period and the tumultuous times that happened during it, including working on 'Reconcile' as Britain voted to leave the EU, and recording 'Johnny Gets A Gun' on June 16^th, just a few days after the Orlando nightclub shooting.

That day was also, most harrowingly of all, the day the MP Jo Cox was murdered in cold blood and as Thea reflected on these terrible events, they became the inspiration for the final track 'The War'. That track forms the mission statement of the album; going to war on the negativity and bleakness of the current world mesmerized by fake news and futility.

The Counterweight tries to be exactly as its title suggests - a redressing of the balance, a tool of pressure, an exertion of opposite force and as such, a flag of hope.

Thea Gilmore will be heading out on a UK headline tour starting at the end of May.
 

UK Tour Dates
Tues 30^th May – Sage, Gateshead
Thurs 1^st June – Union Chapel, London
Fri 2^nd June – Revelation, Ashford
Sun 4^th June – RNCM Theatre, Manchester
Mon 5^th June – The Stables, Milton Keynes
Tue 6^th June – MAC, Birmingham
Wed 7^th June – Junction 2, Cambridge
Sun 11^th June – Contemporary, Nottingham
Tue 13^th June – Arts Centre, Pocklington

   
"The best British singer-songwriter of the last ten years – and then some"
Uncut
 "Unarguably one of the finest singer-songwriters of her generation"
Sunday Times Culture
 "The best wordsmith of her generation"
The Independent