Gilmore & Roberts - A Problem of Our Kind (2018)

The problem with our kind of person is that invariably they turn out to be on the wrong side, playing a game of their own choosing, their negativity only becoming apparent when the rules of engagement find a way to spoil their plans; it is in the very best ideals of the Noir detective, of the sinister spoils that infiltrate the world of the spy and the espionage, that those that are not our kind, are always a problem worth dealing with.

For Gilmore & Roberts, A Problem Of Our Kind is the celebration of knowing who exactly has your back in this badly judged and cynical world of ours, a realisation that the very nature of complex emotions to be found in humanity are not a straight-forward progression of amiable and on-side, the narrowness associated with deceit and pride, they are the result of the jumbled mixture of the two. It is in this unravelling of thoughts and juxtaposition that Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts present with charm, depth, and scale in their first album since the 2016 live recording of In Our History.

If humanity is complex, then perhaps the song they sing should be a simple, beautiful affair, away from the material gain, shunning the aspects of greed and false premise, instead the song should be heart-felt, undeniable in its solidarity with the human experience, and above all a measure of truth in a world that is littered with drama of the worst kind.

The album’s stripped back arrangements have a persona of their own, the pleasure in the beat is such that you can almost feel the heartbeat of Time skipping merrily and with purpose through the slings and arrows of the poisoned air, its own lungs coated with exuberance and fanfare, but never once allowing its Folk heart to be corrupted with the disease of the age.

In songs such as The Philanthropist (Take It From Me), The Smile & The Fury, the excellence of Bone Cupboard, Average Joe and Just A Piece Of Wood, Gilmore & Roberts, along with the album’s players of Fred Claridge, Matt Downer, Sarah Smout, Ben Savage and Matt Crum, the music fights the tortuous fire of the apathetic and the unenlightened, and comes out with its own sense of self enhanced.

A sense of majesty at all times comes with Gilmore & Roberts, A Problem Of Our Kind is yet another point proven in this long and determined journey.