All of humanity.” Disillusioned with the numbers-chasing music industry and wanting a break from her personal songwriting after releasing 22 folk-orientated albums since 1998, the 46-year-old is “putting people back at the centre of it. I’ve said enough about me.” Community building has been key to the Oxford singer-songwriter’s work since debut Burning Dorothy, released when she was just 18, through to her 00s breakthrough albums Avalanche and Harpo’s Ghost all the way to her most recent studio album, 2023’s Thea Gilmore: a body of work that has won Gilmore admiration from Bruce Springsteen, Richard Thompson and collaborator Joan Baez. But The Echo Line goes even further.
Akin to a musical iteration of Nick Cave’s interactive fan advice column The Red Hand Files, Gilmore invites people to leave her an anonymous voicemail or written message via The Echo Line website about anything they want – hopes and dreams, fears and confessions, triumphs and tribulations – to which people have obliged with bravery and honesty in their thousands. Gilmore then writes a song inspired by one or more messages and uploads it to the website for a limited time only. When it was launched in January, Gilmore was unsure if anyone would call, or even notice – she currently has no management, label or press team – but received 150 messages within two days.
The fourth and latest song of the project He Walks Like War was listened to more than 10,000 times before it was taken down. Songs initially remained available for just one week – “music is so disposable and available all the time, I wanted to see what happened if I took it away again” – though demand for He Walks Like War meant Gilmore relented and kept the song up for several weeks. Even as the community grows, Gilmore listens to and reads every message.
People more and more feel very alone. And I think what they’re getting from this is they know they’re actually being listened to, with no judgement.” The anonymity is key. Certain themes recur: grief, loss and heartbreak; estrangement, especially from parents; messages about children, both pride and worries; the overwhelm of the modern world and distrust of elites.
Many tell stories of overcoming adversity; one message detailed surviving an intruder attack at home (“like a Tarantino script”). But there are joyful ones too, including Gilmore’s personal favourite: a message about the interconnectivity of mushrooms as they grow in the ground. We’re all connected, just like fungus.” The trust placed in her, she says, is a delicate gift.
Because it’s not my pain. You’re making sure you do other people’s lives justice. There’s a weight of responsibility in that.” The Echo Line’s first three songs, beautiful examples of Gilmore’s spectral balladry, are incredibly moving.
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