Description
2011 live release from the critically acclaimed British Folk group. It was December 2010 when The Unthanks staged a concert that was at once both fun and their most daunting project yet. Over two sold out nights at the Union Chapel, London, their exploration of music by Antony & the Johnsons and Robert Wyatt was an irreverent joy, making the Independent’s Gigs of the Year list. Those London shows are now captured on a live album, and to mark it’s release. The album is the first volume in what will be a series of Unthank albums called Diversions. The series is designed to capture and document a prolific twelve months which has been full of unique projects for the Mercury nominated Tynesiders.
On the surface, there is little connection between cherished Brit icon Robert Wyatt and cherished icon-in-the-making Antony Hegarty beyond the fact The Unthanks covered a selection of both over two nights at London’s Union Chapel in December 2010. But both singer-songwriters are unified by being highly idiosyncratic and intuitively melodic mavericks with a stark, intimate simplicity that often unfolds as luminous ballads. As Unthanks pianist and producer Adrian McNally says of both, “There is never a spare note played or one struck to impress.” On top, both songwriters have a very strong political polemic that doesn’t overwhelm with sloganeering. How fortunate that The Unthanks come from the same tradition, while Rachel and Becky Unthanks’ voices are blessed with that same stark, intimate simplicity. In other words, it’s a perfect match.
The covers come in two halves. First, it’s six of Hegarty’s songs, mostly drawn from his breakthrough album I Am a Bird Now. Given Hegarty’s transgender politics and drive to establish a liberated perspective beyond machismo, it’s fascinating to hear his songs sung by women. Bird Girl is arguably Hegarty’s most heartbreaking tune, but For Today I am a Boy and You Are My Sister are more gripping because of their context. As older sis Rachel recalls between songs, she and Becky have a brother in-between their ages, and that Becky reckoned when she reached her brother’s age, she’d actually become a boy. Even better is hearing You Are My Sister sung to each other by sisters in blood as well as spirit, the arrangement and tone touching rather than cloying.
The nine Wyatt covers (well, eight, given Stay Tuned is written by Anja Garbarek but covered by Wyatt on Comicopera) are broader in spirit and intent, giving the Unthanks band more instrumental scope and even a playful interlude, namely the speedy clog-dancing that accompanies Dondestan. But they know that the ballads – which also match Hegarty’s primary soundscape – are the key to their connection with Wyatt. It’s hard to single out any of the eight beauties here but Lullaby for Hanza, Lisp Service, Free Will and Testament and Sea Song (also covered on The Bairns) are especially knee-weakening.
This album is the first in what will be a series of Unthanks albums titled Diversions, between official studio sets, as the band continues to look beyond the safe confines of whatever ‘trad folk’ is expected from them. Whatever follows will have a lot to live up to.
–Martin Aston
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off store in a new window