To get to the point, this is the first essential album of 2026. No question. No doubt. For some of you that’s all you’ll need to know. Others may want more.
It’s been seven years since we got an album of new material from Jim, his previous was ‘The Outlander’ in 2019, and though we had a set of reimagined material in between there’s nothing builds anticipation like the scent of fresh product from yer man. This one it has to be said has already been drip fed in several cases. Singles have been released in advance, all of which show up in the track listing but are still welcome as part of the new whole fitting in perfectly alongside the newer numbers.
There is no doubt at the care and craft in a Jim Moray recording, each track is carefully researched and given its own distinctive treatment, some – I’m guessing here – worked up over a considerable time, blending the familiar and the experimental. Here there is much use of brass and clever use of timings, even pause and space. The music breathes, falls and rises in tandem with the lyric and clarity of the stories each song tells. I’ve yet to hear a Jim album where you can’t tell a word he sings, John Martyn like slurring is definitely not his thing, though he does a version of ‘Spencer The Rover’ which Martyn was well known for covering.
So to the music itself. Most of it is played by Mr. Moray though he does have guests, on the opener ‘Flora (The Lily Of The West)’ Archie Churchill Moss, lends a pumping accordion to a track which shifts at a canter telling of tragedy and rejection by the lady in question. Top stuff. Elsewhere the aforementioned ‘Spencer’ roams towards home from Rotherham at the back end of the year with a flurry of brass powering Jim’s guitars and Matt Stockham Brown on drums brings light rhythms. Another cracking adaptation. The brass takes on free jazz clothing with ‘When I Was A Little Boy’ which seems to be a series of riddles/nonsense verses boasting of impossible achievement, all kept in check by a masterful vocal which rides in and around the trombones, saxes and trumpets.
A good percentage of ‘Gallants’ is of course traditional, Jim’s writing though only occasional is always effective and affective at the same time, consider ‘Sounds Of Earth’ which mixed such diverse subjects as deep space exploration, extra terrestrial life and romance. Here the subject is just as bizarre,‘Three Gallants’ – obviously the source of the title, it’s all couched in very folksy subject matter/intent and could easily be mistaken for an ages old traditional item. Given the chance by a trio of ragged entities our hero refuses to look at his future, here it’s the soft tones of Andy May’s Northumbrian pipes which leads the track on a merry dance countering the gothic subject matter.
Though if it’s dark you’re looking for as well as a dash of gothic thrown in, then ‘Omie Wise’ is just the ticket. Functioning on several levels, the most obvious of which is a protest/warning that violence against women is unacceptable, it’s just as well that the perpertrator of all her woes gets what he deserves, but the line, “her life it was brief, her time it was stolen away by a thief,” is chilling. As is the music, slowed down to a funeral pace and delivered over a spiked guitar line, stretching over five minutes it is the track which hits you between the eyes in the bluntest manner, driving home the horror of the subject matter, a cruel disregard and murder. Equally thought provoking if not as disturbing is ‘Train On The Island’ the narrator seemingly parted from his sweetheart asks for messages to be sent to her which progressively get worse as his health fails, eventually he falls silent. Vocal and piano gives the song context and just the right amount of atmosphere.
Atmosphere is what the final track has, a beguiling mix of voices including Maddie Morris, floats across a few minutes as if folk song has met the sympathies of Brian Wilson. It’s a song of parting but also of hope for better times and gives a road map of how we should all treat our fellow man, “I’ll stretch a helping hand.” “For him I’ll fight.” The lyrics sting against those without communal sentiment and social consience. ‘Fortune Turns The Wheel’ has a lyric as relevant today as its beginnings in broadside form.
Recorded, produced and mixed by Jim himself in so many ways this is almost a complete solo album and though short he never was one for lengthy albums for their own sake anyway. Quality matters here and quality ‘Gallants’ has in spades. Not sure what the cover’s about but the basic costume seems to be from the Straw Bear custom, decent guitar though! I’ll leave you to ponder that puzzle.
Unreservedly recommended.
Simon Jones.
www.jimoray.co.uk
