The Unthanks have announced a new double album, The Unthanks in Winter, due for release on November 29th. Their lead single, Dear Companions, is released today.
They shared the following:
Dear Companions is a parting song that instantly feels like it has always been with us. Written by Becky Unthank to the old American folk tune of Nettleton, Dear Companions crescendos towards its end with the voices of 60 devotees, recorded on one of the band’s infamous singing residentials.
“Saying goodbye can often be hard,” says Becky Unthank, who wrote the song at home in Northumberland with her partner, the BAFTA award-winning animator Ainslie Henderson. “In its bittersweetness, we struggle sometimes to find a satisfying way to part, which is why I’ve always loved the function of a parting song.”
Streaming Link: https://linktr.ee/dearcompanions
In typical magpie style, The Unthanks collect and reimagine. You will hear what a Tyneside band playing a German Christmas song in the style of The Beach Boys sounds like (O Tannenbaum); a Spanish carol performed by English folkies through the filter of Tom Waits (Carol Of The Birds); a French carol given desert blues menace, a newly written tribute to the NHS to the tune of O Holy Night (Nurse Emmanuel); an opening piece inspired by A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten (In Winter’s Night); traditional wassails and old stories coloured with folk noir and traces of Vincent Guaraldi’s Merry Christmas Charlie Brown.
Pre-Order The Unthanks In Winter (Download/CD/Vinyl): https://www.the-unthanks.com/shop/
The Unthanks In Winter Tour
Manchester, Dublin and Newcastle Gateshead are particularly close to sell-out.
The London evening show is sold out but a matinee show is now on sale with concessions for kids!
26/11 Galway Roisin Dubh
27/11 Belfast Empire
28/11 Dublin Liberty Hall Theatre
29/11 Cork St Luke’s
01/12 Glasgow City Halls
03/12 Gateshead The Glasshouse ICM
04/12 Lytham Saint Annes Lowther Pavilion
05/12 Hull City Hall
06/12 Hastings White Rock Theatre
07/12 Worthing Assembly Hall
09/12 Birmingham Town Hall
10/12 Nottingham Albert Hall
11/12 Norwich Epic Studios
13/12 Saffron Walden Saffron Hall
14/12 Harrogate Royal Hall
15/12 Manchester New Century Hall
16/12 Poole The Lighthouse
17/12 Exmouth Pavilion
18/12 Bodmin St Petroc’s Church sold out
19/12 Bristol Beacon
20/12 Pontardawe Arts Centre
21/12 London Cadogan Hall – Evening sold out. Matinee now on sale!
22/12 Basingstoke Haymarket
Tickets: https://www.the-unthanks.com/schedule/