a thread for the unthanks (formerly 'rachel unthank and the winterset')

unthank is where most of lanark is set, yeah. it's a good name for the band all the same. sounds interesting, will check em out.

saw them play at the union chapel last year and they were great. think they joked about their surname then - it means "squatters" or something. hang on:

It originates from three villages called Unthank, two in Cumbria, the other in the neighbouring county of Northumberland, on the Scottish border. According to the Oxford Directory of English Place Names, the place and hence the surname derives from a pre 7th century Olde English word "unpance" which means literally "without leave," and described an area of land which was occupied unlawfully.

they were on radcliffe last week whilst he was walking hadrian's wall and said then that their predecessors had been reivers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Reivers

> i heard about these guys just the other day

they were mercury prize nominated for their previous lp just last year...

saw them in chicago last year and they were GREAT

Saw them in 2007. Yes, superb. Seeing them again next month.

Ha Amanda I was just about to call your attention to this thread -- didn't even know if you'd heard them or not.

(I just listened to a couple tracks on MySpace. Good stuff.)

i think we actually talked about them on another thread but i can't remember which. i remember raving about the show, though. it was that good.

ah yes, here it was
i raved embarrassingly

i went to go see them last night in chicago
it was breathtaking -- singing and arrangements were the same bold combination of trad and modern as the collins sisters.
i was on the fence about going because i had to go by myself, but i am so truly happy i went. i know rachel gets top billing, but
becky's voice is quite beautiful and distinctive its own right, and in a completely different (more velvety) way than rachel's.
together, though, wow.

that is what i have to say: wow. WOW.

― La Lechera, Sunday, September 21, 2008 8:21 AM (11 months ago) Bookmark

a year later, still love them and am excited for new record

The first six tracks on the new record are up on Myspace. The harmonies in "Because He Was a Bonny Lad" are particularly gorgeous.
http://www.myspace.com/rachelunthank

i really like the idea of this group. robert wyatt covers? child ballads? check. neat instrumentation? check. but something about it still struck me as a bit too willful, almost mannered.

There must be loads of places called 'Unthank' because I've seen it a lot while driving around northern parts, on local signs, the fronts of buses, etc. It's such a horrible word that it stays with you. Maybe it's a northern equivalent of names like Strand or Mile End that crop up all over. I wish I knew what it meant.

Members

Rachel Unthank (voice, cello and feet)
Becky Unthank (voice and feet)
Niopha Keegan (fiddle and voice)
Adrian McNally (piano and voice)
Chris Price (guitar, bass, ukelele, dulcitone) 

Saw them last night at the Union Chapel, first time I had seen the 10 piece band, pretty damn great, at times the sound was verging on bands like Rachels (npi)

The only downside was David Thomas Broughton as support, really mismatched, and he came across as a collosal arse.

New one - Last, as in "lasting," not "last record" - out in March. Apparently there's a cover of Tom Waits' "No One Knows I'm Gone" and a King Crimson tune.

...And another one, out in February. Seems to be all originals. "Trip-hop" content promised, eek. Here's the single, which is of course very nice; the album version is 10+mins according to iTunes.

https://soundcloud.com/the-unthanks/mount-the-air-single-version

so I'd never actually read the real testimony of Patience Kershaw before and it is just as heartrending as the song suggests (as is the rest of the 1842 testimony collected here):

http://www.victorianweb.org/history/ashley.html

anyway I wish this lot would do a north american tour sometime

Not a huge amount to say other than I saw them at the Green Man back in the mid 00s and was transfixed but somehow stopped paying attention. Anyway, I've just discovered the Diversions 2 set and King of Rome has reduced me to a blubbering wreck.

Here's The Tender Coming (the song) completely destroys me.

most emotionally shattering Unthanks songs:

Fareweel Regality
Testimony of Patience Kershaw
Here's the Tender Coming
Gallowgate Lad
Died for Love

Just working through some of these. Jesus.

I think part of the reason I lost them was buying the album for an old mate who grew up in the north east and had set up various folk clubs in Newcastle. He had most of the tracks on The Bairns in his DNA and was kinda scathing about their interpretations (saying they were deliberately melodramatic and overtly sorrowful versions of songs he knew as raucous and wild). I'm far too suggestible and it put me off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyAPZaey7PQ

the melodrama is the whole point!

was wondering what this crew was up to, turns out they have a triple-EP set out on 02/22

http://www.the-unthanks.com/lines/

Lines pt:3 Emily Brönte is up on Spotify, it's as beautiful as you'd hoped it would be.

the other two parts are up as well, in the EPs section

Ah I couldn't find them at first, ta! What's your first impression? I like how sparse it is (pt3)

I've only given it all a cursory listen - there's a lot going on here

idk it's all nice and worthwhile but it feels like an extension of their "Diversions" series as opposed to a proper album of any kind. it feels more like a pretty thesis project than a project to get absorbed by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgTLkQ76QPM

here's, uh, paul from orbital covering the cure with the Unthanks gals on vocals? it's....really something