Christmas Records, Day 17: Thea Gilmore

Thea Gilmore - Strange Communion (Fulfill 2009)

Does Christmas have to be a choice between little baby Jesus, rampant commercialism and Scrooge-ish misanthropy? Not according to singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore, who shows us what's still to love in this festive feast of an album which mixes the pagan and agnostic, tradition and modernity. And if you don't care about all that, well, Strange Communion is a bunch of really lovely songs....



The opener, Sol Invictus, is pretty breathtaking - an unaccompanied ode to the winter solstice, with Thea's strong, pure voice interwoven with beautiful harmonies from the Sense of Sound Choir (echoes of "Harry's Game", but that's not a bad thing in my book). Thereafter it's a varied but consistently strong album, with folk-rock, pop and even a bit of spoken word thrown in (no, don't run away)... easing between contemplation and celebration via electric slide guitar, celtic vibes, acoustic wistfulness and sing-along choruses.



Atmospheric, whispery vocals and shimmery synth sounds on Yoko Ono's Listen, The Snow Is Falling, evoke the suspended reality and hush of fresh snowfall. The dreamy country-folk of Drunken Angel gives way to the boisterous The St Stephen's Day Murders, with Mark Radcliffe as Shane McGowan to Thea's Kirsty MacColl. Like Fairytale of New York - Thea's favourite Christmas song - it makes you want to be there in the back of an Irish pub, a little the worse for wear, with your arms around a ring of companions, swaying and singing at the top of your chops. Tracks quoting Louis MacNiece and referencing TS Eliot rub shoulders with the unashamed commercialism of the album's Christmas single, That'll be Christmas... Bouncy, catchy, hummable, it's potentially slightly at odds with the rest, skirting the edge of being too cosy, but she gets away with it. Resistance is futile and you're left with a smile of recognition and feeling all warm inside.

I recently produced BBC Four's The Christmas Session (see clip below), for which Thea and her husband-producer-guitarist-sometime co-writer Nigel Stonier turned up mid-tour to Shoreditch Town Hall, gamely donned Dickensian top hats and tails and immediately launched into a version of her Christmas single, helped out by folk musicians they'd never met before that afternoon.

Multi-faith, inter-faith or no faith - whatever, there's plenty of spirit there.



Thea Gilmore - Midwinter's Toast (outtake from BBC Four Christmas Session)

BBC Four's Christmas Session is on Thursday 17 December at 9pm and Christmas Eve at 10.30pm. See the website more transmission details.