However far they roam from the core of their music – which is at that point where the voices of sisters Becky and Rachel Unthank meet and harmonise – there is a near-instant identifiability to the sound and the feeling of an Unthanks record. They may be soundtracking the latest Worzel Gummidge series, or composing songs in the middle of the night at Haworth Parsonage on Emily Brontë’s original piano, or walking out to the local woods during 2020’s lockdown so the sisters can play about with some harmonies. Or there they are at the Royal Albert Hall, with the BBC Concert Orchestra, performing ‘Mount the Air’ at the 2018 Folk Proms. Whichever musical landscape they take themselves to, there is a lingering keynote to an Unthanks performance. It’s the spirit of melancholia, a dish best served warm, held close and nurtured over a lifetime. The exquisite isolation of the melancholic moment is what their music was made for.

“It’s definitely something we’ve thought about and associated with our music,” says older sister Rachel of the melancholy of their sound. “It’s something we find comfort and hope in, and I’ve always been drawn to that bittersweet sound.” Younger sister Becky concurs. “It’s a way to channel our own emotions,” she says. “It’s an outlet, an avenue to explore that side of ourselves, as well as the focus. Exploring that emotion is therapeutic.”

Embedded within the band’s ruling spirit of melancholia are the sisters’ voices, weaving their ways through the story, character and feel of a song, whether that be a Child ballad such as ‘Cruel Sister’, or Nick Drake’s ‘River Man’, from their album debut, Cruel Sister (when they were still Rachel Unthank & the Winterset) or from their most recent lockdown set, Live and Unaccompanied, pairing back to the interweaving voices of Rachel, Becky and singer-fiddler Niopha Keegan.

Adrian McNally, arranger of much of their music since becoming The Unthanks in 2009 with their third album, Here’s the Tender Coming, describes his role in evoking that melancholy spirit. “‘Here’s the Tender Coming’ is a very simple major key melody that’s often sung in a chirpy manner in the north-east,” he says. “It’s originally a pipe tune – but the song is about being pressed to war, and we try to convey the menace in that song by setting it to minor chords, to give those words the meaning we now know they have. We sing the tune straight, but the setting tells a different story.”

There are many stories from many sources across the Unthanks catalogue. Trad/arr may be their constant companion, but their regular releases are augmented by the five Diversions albums – into the songs of Robert Wyatt, Anthony & the Johnsons, Molly Drake, and the Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band, while another series, Lines, encompasses the poetry of World War I, the poems of Emily Brontë, and The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca, a play penned by actress Maxine Peake about the sinking of three trawlers near Hull in 1968, with the loss of 58 lives.

The Old News - The Unthanks:

“We came up with the idea of a Diversion because it seemed ridiculous to make an album of Anthony & The Johnsons and Robert Wyatt songs and just call it an Unthanks album,” says Becky. “We recorded the live show, and that became the album. So it was another route – we could do something different, call it a Diversion, and it would still be the Unthanks as well.”

McNally says the same about the Lines trilogy of albums. “They’re niche and specific projects, but it allows us to go off on tangents without people thinking ‘what is this new direction they’ve taken?’,” he says. “Being musicians is a journey, so we don’t fancy doing the same thing twice, even if it’s really successful. We hope that by moving forward constantly, and interesting ourselves in what we sing, that will interest other people.”

The Unthanks - The Bay Of Fundy (Official Video):

While the first brilliant Winterset albums were small-band affairs, with star turns from Jackie Oates and Belinda O’Hooley on voice, fiddle and piano, by 2009’s Here’s the Tender Coming, McNally had exchanged soundboard for stage, and his orchestral arrangements would begin to feature larger in the Unthanks repertoire, especially on 2015’s acclaimed Mount the Air, featuring trumpeter Tom Arthurs on the epic title-track. “When we play ‘Mount the Air’ live, it’s always a cornerstone of the performance now,” says Rachel. “It’s something I’m always excited to play, and I love the journey it took – Becky found a simple song in Cecil Sharp House, and she and Adrian both wrote extra words, and it became big.”

Big songs open and close their latest album, Sorrows Away, named after the Copper Family favourite whose chorus has filled many a lung. “We’ve known it for years,” says Becky. “It’s everyone’s song, it always brings people together. But because we were in lockdown and really missing singing with people, as soon as we decided to do it, it gave us hope, because it’s about singing your sorrows away, and that’s the message we wanted to put out.”

For the album’s opener, they chose ‘The Great Selkie of Sule Kerry’, a song that captures audiences in a very different way. “We’ve heard friends and family sing it since we were children,” says Rachel. “And that selkie mythology is something that me and Becky have grown up hearing and listening to, and been captivated by.”

While they make their songs singular and special in their performance, the communality that gathers around a song, over generations, has an almost elemental force for the Unthanks, too, who have a lifetime of group singing behind them.

“We draw the songs that we want to sing from hearing them throughout our lives, and that relationship of ebbing and flowing, of hearing other people sing, singing with people, or in the pub, that definitely informs us,” says Rachel. “Sometimes we remember a song we have never sung ourselves, and would love to learn, and that can become something we do together. We always start with the songs as the key thing, and how to tell the story most effectively.”

BEST ALBUMS

The Bairns

(Rabble Rouser Music, 2007)

Fiddle player Niopha Keegan replaced Jackie Oates on this 2007 album. For the first time, McNally introduced a string section, on ‘Felton Lonnin’, a harbinger of the orchestrations to come. A version of Robert Wyatt’s ‘Sea Song’ is a lingering highlight.

Here’s the Tender Coming

(Rabble Rouser Music, 2009)

Rarely has a press-gang song sounded so lulling. This superb 2009 set, with McNally now a group member and with a long trail of string and brass players in support. It features covers of Anne Briggs, Nic Jones and Ewan MacColl. A Top of the World in November/December 2009 (#64).

Mount the Air

(Rabble Rouser Music, 2015)

Their fifth release, discounting side projects, was hailed as their most ambitious and drew comparisons to The Gloaming. The Unthanks now comprised up to 16 players, taking their sonic explorations a long way from communal singalongs in local pubs. 

Read the review

Diversions Vol 4: The Songs and Poems of Molly Drake

(Rabble Rouser Music, 2017)

Nick Drake’s ‘River Man’ featured on their debut, and his mum Molly’s distinct poems and songs are apt subjects for the Unthanks’ brand of melancholic repose and reflection. It’s a delicate chamber music, and Nick’s sister Gabrielle reads some of the poems. 

Read the review

Diversions Vol 5: Live & Unaccompanied

(Rabble Rouser Music, 2020)

This live album, the fifth volume of the Diversions series, features just the sisters and Niopha Keegan, their voices soaring unaccompanied and without a net. It was recorded at various gigs in 2019 and released the following year, after which – silence. Until now, and their return with Sorrows Away.

If You Like The Unthanks, Then Try…

O’Hooley & Tidow

The Fragile

(No Masters, 2012)

Released a decade ago, former Unthank alumni Belinda O’Hooley and her wife Heidi Tidow released this contemporary folk classic, featuring TV theme song ‘Gentleman Jack’ and a cover of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’. 

Read the review

Read the review: Sorrows Away

This article originally appeared in the December 2022 issue of Songlines magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe today