Last time we spoke with Gilder Pilots, they teased us with the promise of a debut album in the works. The alt-pop two-piece from Northern Queensland have now blown us away with that record, a 12 track dream walk named Talk Free.
The record sees siblings Benjamin and Samantha Hope at their most assured, a confident and expressive sound emanating from the tracklist start to finish. A consistency within their writing, the mix and indeed the entire LP’s overtone is immediately obvious, a testament to the growing skill set of the pair.
Ambient, alternative and atmospheric, Talk Free sees Gilder Pilots take full flight with a newfound passion and vivacity.
Opener Improvise sets the mood handily, a downtempo gem which struts Ben and Sam’s penchant for subtlety. No instrument cuts through the mix like you would expect a lead guitar or vocal to normally, the track remaining restrained throughout.
As a first track should, Improvise foreshadows the sonics you will run into through the remainder of Talk Free; an ethereal mix of softened synth work, thoughtful guitars, downbeat electronic percussion and, of course, Ben and Sam’s dainty vocals.
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Title track Talk Free sees the addition of some strings into the mix, a slow-building swell of heartfelt expressionism. Although the song approaches a crescendo towards its conclusion, a breakdown never comes – Glider Pilots once again demonstrating the value of restraint.
Sometimes, against all temptation to swing a song into the next gear, the far more mature decision is to keep things close to the ground. In doing this, Glider Pilots call to mind fellow Australian folk proteges Lisa Mitchell and Julia Stone, the latter of whom seems to have played a large part in carving Sam Hope’s vocal style.
As a result, track eight As A King is likely the loudest point of Talk Free. It sees Ben’s synth work taking the fore, some 80s funk worming its way into an otherwise folk-tinged record one chunky staccato note at a time.
Not that this track feels out of place, rather that its uniqueness is raised to a finer point by the cohesiveness of the rest of the LP.
Standing Static is Glider Pilots at their most ethereal, Sam’s consistent vocal presence reverberating all throughout the song like an echo in an open canyon. At the close of the track, a guitar tone straight out of a stadium-filling blues ballad cuts in, elevating the song to a new nirvana.
And underpinning it all is some of the more interesting and varied percussion on the record, Ben flirting with quickened hi-hats and more of an off-beat presence. A clear standout track.
Month or a Day strikes a similar chord, placing a gorgeous footnote to the album. Sam’s vocals hit their upper limit in a soaring performance while some delightfully Californian electric guitar licks elegantly fill the space in between. It has the closure a final track needs without falling into the trap of ending dramatically, rather fading to black like the closing moments of an arthouse film.
Ben and Sam Hope have once again proved the profundity of their relationship on Talk Free, finding a musical symbiosis which only a brother and sister could boast. As a debut album should, this LP both lends itself to Glider Pilots’ established style while also improving upon it immeasurably.
Talk Free sees Glider Pilots finally take to the skies and will undoubtedly set the scene for their years to come.
