Sorrows Away

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It ties in with the whole philosophy of the folk tradition, trying to learn from our past, from the stories of our ancestors. Trying to reflect and make our lives better today. In 2012, Rachel Unthank performed songs in a podcast for The Guardian on Royalty and the English folk song. [58] Television and radio [ edit ] Reinhard Zierke (30 January 2015). "Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell". Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music . Retrieved 6 April 2015. Martin Townsend (13 March 2011). "Album review– The Unthanks: Last (Rabblerouser/EMI)". Sunday Express. London . Retrieved 24 August 2014.

B: I think, as you say, we talk about the mood. We’ll start with the song, and work out some harmonies, then we’ll talk about the mood and atmosphere, and then Adrian does all the arranging. Poor Adrian then has to come to us at the end for approval. We say, “We love it!” or “Not quite sure about this!” [laughs]. That’s probably quite a hard position for him to be in.a b c d Tim Adams (27 February 2011). "The Unthanks: 'We're miserable buggers and not afraid of it' ". The Observer . Retrieved 28 April 2011. One of the really impressive things about The Unthanks is their flexibility as a unit – they can perform or tour as the full 11-piece band, a core five-piece, or just an acapella vocal trio. McNally admits that this is driven by pragmatism as much as art. “You want to be able to do what you want to all the time but it doesn’t make any financial sense having such a big band, it’s crippling. And we like to tour as a five because we don’t like saying no! We can do as we please, it’s enjoyable to be able to play in different forms and spaces, both in more evolved and then more intimate ways.” Since the release of the technicolour BBC Folk Album of the Year Mount The Air in 2015, The Unthanks have both scaled up to symphonic levels with Charles Hazelwood and the BBC Proms, and stripped down to the unaccompanied singing they grew up with for Diversions Vol 5. Their follow-up album, The Bairns, released on 20 August 2007, [14] was nominated for the Best Album award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2008 [15] and was runner-up for the 2008 Mercury Prize. [16] The album debuted in the UK Top 200 Albums Chart at number 178 in the week after the Mercury Prize award ceremony. [17] Reviewing The Bairns for BBC Music, Mel Ledgard described it as "an album with a cinematic quality, huge in dramatic atmosphere". [18] In a four-starred review, Robin Denselow of The Guardian nominated it as "one of the folk records of the year". [19] You’ve spoken about how you arrived at Sorrows Away. How do you usually collect folk songs ? What draws you to specific tunes?

BU: Well, in moments of despair, feeling lost or looking for the right direction, I think we all look around for something to rely on and believe in. It’s difficult, certainly politically, at the moment for us to rely on people who are leading us. We’re searching around for something that’s true and real. Looking to the past helps us to work out what we’re going to do in the future. The Unthanks have teased us recently with talk of their upbeat, pop album, but to some extent it’s true. “It’s more hopeful and warm, less melancholy, which isn’t to say there’s no deaths! But I think we were drawn to songs that gave us comfort and made us feel more hopeful.”, explains Rachel Unthank. “There’s not quite as much outright despair.” Reinhard Zierke (13 April 2017). "Flit". Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music . Retrieved 17 May 2017.

DLWP is proud to be presenting three shows in May as part of Brighton Festival. Corinne Bailey Rae, Warpaint and The Unthanks will all take place as part of Brighton Festival, as they extend their partnerships across the wider Sussex region. Using the traditional music of the North East of England as a starting point, the influence of Miles Davis, Steve Reich, Sufjan Stevens, Robert Wyatt, Antony & The Johnsons, King Crimson and Tom Waits can be heard in the band’s 14 records to date, earning them a Mercury Music Prize nomination and international acclaim along the way. Neil Spencer (17 February 2019). "The Unthanks: Lines review – national treasures sing Emily Brontë and Maxine Peake". The Guardian . Retrieved 6 July 2019. Series 3 of the BBC Four TV series Detectorists was inspired by Dave Dodds' song "Magpie", as performed by the Unthanks on their album Mount the Air, and the song was played in the first episode of the series. [61] The world’s changed a lot since Mount The Air. Do you look to reflect that in your songs, like The Old News, for instance?

Neil Spencer (28 October 2012). "The Unthanks: Songs from the Shipyards– review". The Observer . Retrieved 10 November 2012. It eventually makes way for “The Sandgate Dandling Song”. Having been an obsession of McNally’s for some time now, ever since hearing ex-wife Rachel sing it when they first met, it tells the conflicted story of the wife of a violent North East keelman and the repercussions of domestic abuse on their son. Borrowing a tune from Eastern Europe, learned from a Polish accordion player, McNally steps up to the mic and inserts the song with a fresh verse, told from the father’s disturbed viewpoint. It’s a masterpiece of nuanced drama, burnished with mournful strings and lonely brass. Both opening songs already feel like significant events in the Unthanks canon, taking their place alongside the likes of “Mount The Air” or “Here’s The Tender Coming”. Peter Culshaw (17 April 2008). "Rachel Unthank: swapping clogs for high heels". The Sunday Telegraph. London . Retrieved 28 April 2011. Reinhard Zierke (1 May 2017). "A Tree Song / Oak, Ash and Thorn". Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music . Retrieved 3 January 2018. And there’s Sorrows Away, which on their recent tour elicited an audience singalong reaction that felt to Rachel like “an incantation… we were all singing our sorrows away. And people really meant it as well. People are looking for that, audiences are coming with open hearts and wanting to connect. The first couple of times we did it, I burst into tears and couldn’t sing any more.“R: That’s very diplomatic. Well, that’s right, you do have to find another way rather than just banging someone over the head trying to convince them that you’re right and they’re wrong. Lynden Barber (11 January 2011). "North country sisters The Unthanks cast a spell". The Australian . Retrieved 8 September 2015.