The Unthanks: the music of
Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons
“I am flattered and mystified! Their voices are so pure.” Antony Hegarty
“I love the idea. It makes me happy just thinking about it” Robert Wyatt
December 8th and 9th 2010
The Union Chapel, London
Compton Terrace, London N1 2UN
www.the-unthanks.com www.qujunktions.com
7pm Tickets £15 adv
www.ticketweb.co.uk www.unionchapel.org.uk
ON SALE FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!
On the tide of three beguiling albums to date and countless tingle-inducing live shows, The Unthanks (formerly Rachel Unthanks & The Winterset) have become the unassailable key voices of contemporary UK folk. For two nights only, Northumbria sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank and their band take two of the most adventurous songbooks of the last half-century and, in the true spirit of the idiom they honour with such vitality, paint them in vivid new colours across the Union Chapel. The special pre-Christmas concerts will feature a set of Robert Wyatt music and a set of Antony & The Johnsons songs, either side of an interval.
“It’s just a whim really, though we’ve thinking about it for a few years now,” says The Unthanks pianist and producer Adrian McNally. “We don’t intend it to be a major artistic accomplishment or statement.. we’re just looking forward to becoming even more intimate and fascinated by music that we love and respect. It means the world to us to have their blessing and approval. We’ve got a bit of a nerve associating ourselves with such beautiful men, but it’s the music and words we want to learn from and share with other people. Maybe it’s not possible to perform without ego, but Robert and Antony exclude so much commitment and integrity in their music, their conversation with the human condition seems entirely selfless to me. There is never a spare note played or one struck to impress. They appear entirely consumed with the search for beauty and truth in a way that nourishes our anthropological souls and reflects how we feel about folk music in its broadest sense.”
These unsentimental young storytellers outside of time have long found kindred energies in the proudly maverick English soul of Robert Wyatt, and this was finely evidenced on their heaven-sent cover of his “Sea Song”, one of the real jewels of Mercury Music Prize nominated second album “The Bairns” and regarded by Wyatt as the finest interpretation by another artist of his songs. Robert does not perform live, so bravely, with Robert's blessing, The Unthanks will cherry pick from his indefinable and peerless repertoire to a live set they hope to do justice. Similarly, hearts have been hauled out of open mouths by The Unthanks stunning duet rendition of Antony’s “For Today I Am A Boy”, still as yet unrecorded.
The Unthanks, like Robert and Antony, aspire to the timeless energies and beauty that can be conveyed/released in a song. These two essential occasions see unlikely musical bloodlines flow ever clearer and more direct, as The Unthanks continue to fashion unlikely folk standards from across the idiosyncratic landscape of modern leftfield songcraft.
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