The Brothers Gillespie
Tue, 29 Oct
|The Folklore Rooms
Time & Location
29 Oct 2024, 19:30 – 23:00
The Folklore Rooms, 12 North St, Brighton and Hove, Brighton BN1 3GJ, UK
About the event
Described by Folk Radio UK as ‘weaving an especially compelling magic’, and 'showing off British acoustic music in its best possible light', Northumbrian duo The Brothers Gillespie sing songs of great lyrical power, animated by the sound of soaring sibling harmony, inspired guitar playing and a rich array of acoustic instruments. Their songs and performances have a rare, intimate energy that is both earthy and ethereal, romantic and radical.
James and Sam Gillespie found their sound growing up in the fells and valleys of Northumberland, their songs often describing relationships with wild places and the experience of finding oneself in a world alive with soul. The music comes to them most strongly when walking in the borderlands with their packs and instruments which remains a regular practice for them. Since that time, the brothers have travelled widely and sung their songs at campfires, concert halls, Parisian circuses, folk clubs and a host of UK festivals including Sidmouth and Cambridge Folk Fests.
Throughout 2024 The Brothers Gillespie will be on tour with their third album The Merciful Road (‘one of the finest albums you will hear this year’ Folk London), a collection of songs inspired by the grace of life in troubled times and recorded in a cottage by the banks of the river Tweed. Irish Music Magazine has said of the record that ‘An intimate sense of spiritual grace seeps through each of the 8 tracks’. Several singles will be appearing ahead of the tour which will also see the album released on vinyl LP. With plans also afoot to start work on a new album, the brothers find themselves called to the glint of new horizons and excited to see where the road will take them.
‘Anyone who has seen the brothers live will surely attest that it is an experience that will stay with you. There is a feeling of warmth that exudes from them and affects everyone in the room’ Folk London.
'This album is in some ways about finding the thread of love and belonging in a world that seems to be nonetheless unravelling.'
‘Our music is inspired by the still wild soul of the land in which we live, a land alive with presences, not owned by anyone. It is about seeing with the eye of the heart and recovering our imaginations. It is about finding home, belonging and each other in a world which is singing to us as we sing to it’. The Brothers Gillespie