The Unthanks

Emerging in 2004, the Unthanks quickly established themselves among England’s leading folk ensembles of the new millennium. Taking their name from siblings Rachel and Becky, the group blends longstanding Northumbrian traditions with classical, jazz, and pop sensibilities. Initially performing as Rachel Unthank & the Winterset, they issued Cruel Sister in 2005 and The Bairns in 2007, both of which drew strong critical notice. The ensemble adopted its current title in 2009, after which the central trio—Rachel, Becky, and Rachel’s husband Adrian McNally, who also serves as manager, arranger, and producer—produced the well-regarded albums Last in 2011, Mount the Air in 2015, and Sorrows Away in 2022, alongside distinctive live collections interpreting material by Robert Wyatt, Antony & the Johnsons, and Molly Drake.

Rachel and Becky Unthank formed the project in 2004 and soon expanded it into a quartet by recruiting pianist Belinda O’Hooley and viola player Jackie Oates. Their debut album under the Winterset banner, Cruel Sister, attracted considerable U.K. press attention in 2005, yet The Bairns two years later brought wider recognition, earning a Mercury Prize nomination that placed the band alongside Radiohead and drawing endorsements from Antony of Antony & the Johnsons and Robert Wyatt, both of whom the Unthanks would later interpret. With the lineup adjusted to include Adrian McNally on piano along with fiddler Niopha Keegan and guitarist Chris Price, the musicians released their first album as the Unthanks, Here’s the Tender Coming. European outlets responded enthusiastically, and Mojo, the Guardian, and Uncut all ranked the record among 2009’s standout releases.

Following an extensive tour, the group reconvened at Rachel and Adrian McNally’s home in Northumberland to capture new material. Last, issued in 2011, fused the ensemble’s traditional leanings with a fresher perspective and again received warm notices. In 2012 the musicians launched their Diversions series of live recordings, beginning with Vol. 1: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons: Live from the Union Chapel, London, followed by Vol. 2: The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band and Vol. 3: Songs from the Shipyards. Mount the Air arrived in early 2015, marking the first studio effort in four years and once more drawing from both historical and present-day sources. The Diversions thread resumed in 2017 with The Songs and Poems of Molly Drake, a collection centered on the compositions of Nick Drake’s mother. February 2019 brought an ambitious set of three shorter albums collectively titled Lines, Vols. 1–3, addressing the 1968 trawler tragedy in Kingston upon Hull on Lines Part One: Lillian Bilocca, the First World War on Lines Part Two: World War One, and the verse of Emily Brontë on Lines Part Three: Emily Brontë. Sorrows Away, released in 2022, marked the first non-thematic studio album since Mount the Air; it contained eight traditional pieces and two originals, among them a notable version of Gordon Bok’s “Bay of Fundy.”