The Unthanks
Mount The Air
(Rabble Rouser)
How rich. How strange. Four years since their last studio album, and after various diversions into the back catalogues of Robert Wyatt, Antony And The Johnsons and shipyard songs, The Unthanks return with an album that takes the folk tradition the sisters grew up on and sails it into wilder waters. If the north-eastern accents of Rachel and Becky remain front and centre, it's the contribution of Rachel's husband Adrian McNally, violinist Niopha Keegan and bassist Chris Price that grafts a sense of adventure onto Mount The Air. It starts with the trumpet line that opens the ten-minute title track and then swells through the record on a deep bed of brass and strings. An echo of Gavin Bryars's minimalism here (For Dad), a trip hop arrangement there (the gorgeous Flutter). Folk's storytelling tradition is still very much at the heart of this album. But what thrills here is the sense of scale at play in the music, the unrushed, easeful way the musicians stretch into songs, let them linger without ever overstaying their welcome. That and the earthy humanity of the sisters' voices. All in all, "lovely" will cover it.
Teddy Jamieson
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article