The Unthanks - Mount The Air

If you have read this blog before, you will probably be aware that musically I tend to be drawn to artists who are inclined to push the boundaries of their chosen genre. Hence my liking for Miles Davis, Captain Beefheart, Bjork, Frank Zappa, Can, Robert Wyatt and more recently, These New Puritans.

Which brings me rather nicely to The Unthanks of whom it has been claimed "regard folk music in the way Miles Davis regarded jazz; as a launch pad for exploring the wider possibilities." This concept truly appears to have reached fruition with their latest album, 'Mount the Air'.

I first heard this album before heading off to see the Decemberists in Leeds at the weekend. By rights I should have been listening to the Decemberists on my return journey from Yorkshire. Instead I found myself repeatedly playing this rather wonderful album.


In case you are unaware, The Unthanks hail from my own part of the world -  Tyneside. Augmented by other musicians, they are a pair of sisters, Rachel and Becky Unthank who are the daughters of a certain George Unthank who folk purists may remember as a singer with the Northumberland folk group, the Keelers. They initially recorded as Rachel Unthank & The Winterset but changed their name in 2009. Since then they have produced a couple of studio albums plus a trilogy of 'Diversions' which featured music by Antony & The Johnsons and Robert Wyatt as well as songs inspired by and dedicated to the shipyards of this region. Their interpretation of the songs of Antony Hegarty and in particular Robert Wyatt, certainly met with my approval.

Clearly they have taken all of these influences and brought them to fruition with this latest album.

I earlier mentioned pushing boundaries and they certainly do that with the 10 minute title track which opens the album. Appearing to take influences from Miles Davis's 'Sketches of Spain' the piece is almost symphonic in its arrangement. I suspect that much of the credit for this has to go to Rachel's husband Adrian McNally whose work on piano dominates this album. Yet the sisters come into their own when harmonising together such as on the track 'Magpie' in which their voices weave around a single drone. It is mesmerising stuff.

Elsewhere on the album, the band rework The Beatles 'Golden Slumbers' into a song of their own, 'Last Lullaby'. Not many acts can get away with that but the Unthanks create something totally new and original. 

In truth there are just too many high spots on this album for me to mention them all here. There are I suspect some who will criticise the local 'Geordie' dialect used or the fact that the album is quite long. Suffice to say that neither of these things concerns me one bit. In fact, to my mind, the album could be even longer still and I'm usually of the view that records should be no longer than 45 minutes. My opinions may eventually change but for now this album will continue to dominate my listening time. And I have also secured tickets to see them perform the album live at Newcastle City Hall next month. I can't wait.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2015/feb/13/unthanks-mount-the-air-album-you-should-hear-video