The Unthanks share the rarest of gifts: a willingness to explore and examine the strands that make songs. The Unthanks In Winter combines these threads, weaving a garment that holds onto that musical essence while forging something new, expanding interpretations, and considering the shifting forms of the winter winds. It is a 19-song feast in which the recipes of old have been reinterpreted for the shifting tastes of time.
Opening to the sound of wind and footsteps, In Winter’s Night is a piano solo that was initially inspired by the movement “In Freezing Winter’s Night” from Benjamin Brittan’s A Ceremony of Carols; clearly, this is not your usual holiday collection. The Christmas tree of O Tannenbaum combines an Adrian McNally piano reading with the air of Vince Guaraldi’s Merry Christmas Charlie Brown, with Dan Rogers’ electric bass adding a dose of the Beach Boys to the proceedings. At the same time, Niopha Keegan’s viola provides a centring influence. By the time Becky and Rachel Unthank enter, the shift in sense and sensibility has fully taken hold. While retaining the melody, everything else seems to be in flux.
The question at the heart of Graeme Miles’ Dark December is whether we should curse the winter or follow the plea that “We should not curse the winter.” While the sisters’ voices are filled with child-like innocence, the arrangement is by turns sad and questioning, the sounds of Will Hammond’s vibraphone adding unexpected shading. In contrast, the clarinet of Fay MacCalman adds a shift of colour. Again and again, the band finds ways to defy expectations.
Slowing the pace transforms the traditional Gower Wassail into something more sombre, adding an unexpected dimension to a song traditionally used by wassailers to encourage their audiences to cough up whatever, be it money, beer or spices.
Quite often, their approach to more traditional holiday songs is to provide instrumental numbers focused on unfamiliar or unexpected arrangements. Thus, The Holly and the Ivy uses a tune that may be more familiar to the folk world while briefly acknowledging the more widely known tune. O Come All Ye Faithful begins with a sense of the world outside a church. At the same time, strains of a couple of choral tunes lead into what seems to be a broken-down piano playing a slow, stately version of the song, followed by a ghost chorus of Unthanks providing a rendering of the song’s name and nothing more.
Following the aching beauty of the Catalan lullaby, Carol of the Birds, with a mischievous, dark version of Carol of the Beasts, illustrates their ability to go beyond the obvious. Bursting forth with menace as it leads into a truly squawking saxophone din shows how far The Unthanks are willing to go in upending thinking based solely on traditional expectations.
While most of this collection is comprised of songs that date back decades and centuries, there are three songs of more recent vintage. River River, composed by Becky and partner Ainslie Henderson, brings to mind walks in the crisp winter air. The tribute to Covid workers, Nurse Emmanuel, transforms the tune “O Holy Night” into a lush violin tune honouring those on the front lines during some of the darkest days of recent years. Tar Barrel in Dale, written by their father, George Unthank, relates a local New Year’s Eve mummers play tradition where the village men dress up and parade with flaming tar barrels on their heads, which get flung into a bonfire on the village square.
Concluding the album, the other Unthank/Henderson composition, Dear Companions, is set to “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Featuring a 60-voice choir of “Singing Weekend” participants offers a stunning conclusion to this collection. Brimming with emotion and set to the accompaniment of strings and drums, it stirs the heartstrings and the soul.
In Winter by The Unthanks is a rare offering that evokes the vast emotions of the cold winter months. It is a massive statement, a project that Rachel and Becky Unthank have been working on for around fifteen years, and it is well worth the wait.
The Unthanks in Winter (29th November 2024) Rabblerouser Music
Order: https://www.the-unthanks.com/product/in-winter-double-album/