Whether as aide-memoire or potted history, this joyful release from Gilmore & Roberts is a timely reminder of what exposure to this duo might mean, as they revive and relive their shared past, looking back and moving forward.

RESTATING & REVISIONING

Or Katriona and Jamie if you know ’em, and you should, the vibrant duo now having been treading the boards for a score of years, which is the point and purpose of this release. Nothing as vulgar as a greatest hits, this is more a celebration of their story thus far, a restating and revisioning of their songs best loved. And, rather than choose the songs themselves, they asked their fans to choose their top 15, adding a new song, previously unrecorded, for good measure. Oho, that old trick, recycling old with a single nugget of new, you sneer, but no, this these are all new recordings. Rather than dredging up the existing catalogue, these songs are all performed anew, and likely as you have seen them played, on stage. So none of your rhythm sections and fancy guests, this is Gilmore and Roberts, alone and unadulterated.

THE WHOLE BROAD REMIT OF A FOLK TRADITION

It is with Doctor James they open proceedings, a highlight from their first and only flirtation with the encumbrance of a record label, Navigator’s The Innocent Left, from 2012. Rather than the brusque and familiar folk-rock beats of the original, the duo never having enlisted any but the best of accompanists, it is acappella harmony vocals that are heard first.

These days, I think I prefer it better, the pleasure heightened as guitar, fiddle and mandolin chatter in. Gilmore takes the lead for the verses, her voice a clarion of pure Englishness. The fiddle that snakes and slides between the verses is as adept as any. Each of the pair write songs and write songs separately, although it is hard to see the join, apart from the often correct assumption that they sing the lead for their own, with a knack to capture the whole broad remit of a folk tradition, and one, at that, that can sweep back and fro across any Atlantic divide.

The Stealing Arms has her partner next step up, rippling banjo and stomp the only additional, Stemming from the same 2012 album, it too celebrates the stripping back. Mandolin tinkles in at around the same time as additional vocal dips in, and this 2012 song manages to sound as ancient as the hills, if still well before any best by. It is not difficult to see how the duo get sometimes confused with any of the Lakeman brother permutations, given the sonic and the ease with which new writing encapsulates the past. So, the fact that Jamie Roberts is the brother of Kathryn, as in Roberts and (Seth) Lakeman, may not be the surprise it was to me.

AN ANTHEMIC EARWORM

The more haunting Appalachiana of Travelling In Time is a slow and plangent waltz of Gilmore’s, a lyric harking back to searching out old family photos, and the genetic memories revived thereby, here those of her Grandfather. The fiddle is a soothing balm that coats the melody with warmth. It precedes the new song, also from Gilmore, A Year And A Day, which is a triumphant celebratory march, guitar and fiddle striding out, with banjo, another tale of family, now addressing the couples own children.

I, Burnum Burnum takes a different turn, a wistful narrative that makes the most of Roberts’ keening tenor, set largely to his stark guitar. It builds, adding harmonies, mandolin and fiddle, becoming quite an anthemic ear worm. Already, over just 5 songs, several different acoustic styles have been explored.

If sepia has a sound, it would be the muffled tinkling that introduces Silver Screen, before Gilmore hitting peak purity, her vocals light and liquid. As she soars, so Roberts’ acts as a something between safety net and anchor. Her mandolin is a joy in this one. A Selfish Man mines again the tendency of Roberts to turn focus inward, his voice personalising the words, irrespective or about whom or what he writes, a song becoming lament. By now a pattern is emerging, offering clues as to favoured subject matter; Time Soldiers On sounds a Roberts title, and is. Starting unaccompanied, it smacks of a secular carol, needing, and getting, little beyond voices.

EFFICIENCY DULY DRAWN TO ATTENTION

Gilmore’s Hunter Man, originally the opener for their 2008, debut, is a complete contrast, with robust guitar strumming and a sawing fiddle, a lively roustabout concerning its subject. Actually the first song to have memory slotting in the absent bass and drums, the efficiency of these refurbs is drawn thus into belated attention by that apparition, not that they are then missed, beyond that moment of realisation. Louis Was A Boxer (Roberts, tick!) minds me oddly of some of Dean Owen’s family history vignettes, with sensitive fingerpicking and a gentle meander of a melody.

“Walking home from the church one day” is a lyric we can all relate to, isn’t it? OK, I jest, but it is a true pointer to the importance of the tradition to the songbook of Gilmore, the debt to trad.arr. important but not stultifyingly so. The delivery of Fleetwood Fair is free from any the faux folkie inflections that can sometimes get writ too large, and it manages to be both appealingly ancient and modern. Also very Knightley, I thought, too, more than when it first saw light, in 2010, on second album, Up From The Deep, when there was a little more breath than control in her vocals.

A ROUSING BUCOLIC

Scarecrow is one of those rousing bucolics that feature large in folk. But, sneaking between some of the more expected tropes, listen hard to Roberts’ guitar, as he throws in a fair few jazz chords where you may least expect. The title of this album, as well as being a decent representation of its role, comes from Just A Piece Of Wood, up next. It picks up on the momentum of the song preceding, and it feels as if the record is letting loose, as it heads to any conclusion. I am hoping it a song to her instrument: “You’re more to me than a piece of wood“, it is a one of the catchiest tunes in their repertoire, and one that uplifts any show within which the duo play it.

Cecilia, the name, has this old codger thinking, inexorably, of Marc Bolan, of John’s Children and ladies underwear. Ashamedly, that thought wouldn’t shake during the song here of that name, but, strangely, I found it easy to imagine the Bopping Elf liking this one. The mandolin keeps an attractive presence throughout. If you need a single, guys, this would be the one! Finally, Stumble On The Seam, with a stuttery ensemble instrumental start, closes the selection with an exuberant flourish, another ear worm amongst the many here offered.

COULDN’T HAVE COME AT A BETTER TIME

I don’t think this album could come at a better time, frankly. I have alluded to, sort of, my occasional muddling of the many and various husband and wife duos on the circuit of late. Well, if you have ever muddled up your Roberts or any else of the often related partnerships, this is the ticket required, your key to the conundrum around as to which is which. It also sends a distinct warning as to which might be currently best placed for pole position. On tour between now and June, too; see above!

WORK IN PROGRESS….

Try out an earlier version of Doctor James, somewhere in transition between the original and the one that features on the album:

Gilmore & Roberts: Website

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