The Unthanks at Shepherd's Bush Empire

I was lucky enough to see one of the last gigs by Rachel Unthank & The Winterset at the Royal Opera House in the summer and on Monday night I saw their new incarnation as The Unthanks at Shepherds Bush Empire. It's still Rachel and Becky Unthank fronting the band which is now eight-strong and multi-instrumental, lots of strings and horns, drums and guitar filling out the sound on the new songs from the latest album and adding new textures to the older songs.

The gig was to promote the new record and most of the songs were from the album, 'Here's The Tender Coming', sprinkled with some old favourites. Now that they have three albums under their belts there's a wider range of songs to choose from and the newly expanded band means they can experiment with sounds a lot more, and the sound was excellent. Of course, not everything changes, Rachel and Becky are still centre-stage, chatting away like you were in their living room or local pub rather than the expanse of Shepherds Bush Empire. They have a really nice stage presence that welcomes you into their world and their love of the songs they sing. They're on a long tour at the moment but they and the band seemed fresh and eager to please, and they did.

They played some of my favourites from the new record, including 'Sad February', 'Lucky Gilchrist' and the magnificent 'The Testimony of Patience Kershaw'. 'Lucky Gilchrist' has just been issued as a single on Monday (slightly edited) which is available for download and only available in hard copy from gigs (naturally I bought it). They asked if it was ok to play a Christmas song since it was still November and proceeded to play a lovely version of 'In The Bleak Midwinter' (their mother's favourite carol) which they recorded for a BBC programme to be shown in a couple of weeks time. They also played a great version of 'Felton Lonnin' from 'The Bairns' and, with a mixture of shyness and pride told us that the album was one of The Observer's Top 50 Albums of the Decade. Well done on that! Then, of course, there's the slightly rude, 'Where've Yer Bin Dick'!

The set ended with an extended version of the joyful 'Blackbird' with new passages for all the new instruments in the band. It wasn't long before they came back for an encore of 'Betsy Bell' with Becky singing and Rachel going into clog-dance heaven and dancing across the stage. The final song was 'Here's The Tender Coming' with a Geordie lesson and some audience participation and then they were off to great, warm applause.

I went down to the merch stand to grab a copy of the new single, an edited version of 'Lucky Gilchrist' with a song written by their Dad about New Year celebrations and first footing (nice and seasonal) called 'Tar Barrel in Dale', plus their version of 'Sexy Sadie' that they recorded for a Mojo freebie CD a year or two ago. The EP is on iTunes so go and download it now.

By then the two Unthank lasses had come out to chat to people so I had a brief chat to Rachel, she signed the single for me and I told her that I loved 'Patience Kershaw' and that the quiet pride of Miss Kershaw made me cry. Then I met Becky outside (she must've been freezing in her shoulderless dress in this weather) and she signed it as well. I said they should record a live album since the sound was excellent and Becky said a live record was on the list of things to do. What nice young women they are - I've decided to adopt me bonny lasses.

I had a lovely evening and it was delightful to meet me bonny lasses afterwards. Now, when's the next tour and the next album? I'll be there!