On my radar: Thea Gilmore’s cultural highlights

The singer-songwriter on the return of Blur, the loneliness in Edward Hopper’s paintings, BBC TV satire W1A and the inspirational environment of Liverpool

Singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore grew up in Oxford before leaving house in her teens to work in a recording studio, the place she was found by producer Nigel Stonier (whom she later married). She released her first album, Burning Dorothy, at 18 and broke into the album charts with Avalanche at 23. Gilmore carried out in a Bob Dylan tribute concert at the Royal Live performance Corridor, Glasgow in 2011, that yr releasing her version of his John Wesley Harding album and Don’t Stop Singing – a set of songs using lyrics written by the late Sandy Denny. Gilmore is at present touring the UK. Her new album, Ghosts & Graffiti, is out on 11 Might.