Gilmore Trail close out with a 17 minute epic to end all epics.

Release Date: 7th February 2025

Label: Bandcamp

Format: digital

EVERYTHING IS IMPERMANENT

Having enjoyed their Impermanence album back in ’22, it’s sad to report that Gilmore Trail are closing down their post Rock curtains with one final release. One last hurrah maybe, but it’s a biggie.

The band’s longest and most ambitious composition in 15 years. A single-track makes up the Wildfire EP and sees the quartet pushing their musical limits. While representing the epitome of their shared creative vision, “we feel it has afforded us a sense of closure as a band,” they say.

INSPIRED

For the release, the quartet is briefly transformed to a quintet with the wonderful Jo Quail along for the ride on electric cello as a very special guest. Both band and cellist push each other to an inspired performance.

A near seventeen minute episode sees the palette shift from glistening and barely discernible guitar patterns to swells of huge power and opulence. High on drama. High on dynamics. Increased tempos and the signature shrill guitar and grinding bass work their magic. By the halfway mark they’ve reached the mightiest of crescendos. Howls of feedback and clouds of noise eventually give way to a springy tempo. The busy pattern becomes increasingly frantic as the instruments pile in. The feeling that the band is reaching closure seems to goad them into throwing in all bar the kitchen sink as the music bucks and rears in an attempt to stay in control.

PRIMAL

The soundtrack of the two minute finale is pure Doom and sludge. Lurching towards conclusion. Brutal and primal. It’s some way to sign off.

Gilmore Trail were a four-piece instrumental band from Sheffield, who took their cues from bands such as Oceansize, This Will Destroy You, King Crimson and Mogwai. They burned brightly for a while and have surely ended on a high note.

Here’s the band with their Circle Of Least Confusion from 2011:

Gilmore Trail online: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Youtube

Jo Quail online: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / YouTube

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube