The Unthanks are an English folk group known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk, particularly Northumbrian folk music, with other musical genres. Their debut album, Cruel Sister, was Mojo magazine's Folk Album of the Year in 2005. Of their subsequent albums, nine have received four or five-starred reviews in the British national press. Their album Mount the Air, released in 2015, won in the best album category in the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. In 2017 they released two albums featuring the songs and poems of Molly Drake, mother of singer-songwriter and musician Nick Drake.
Journal for Plague Lovers is the ninth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released on 18 May 2009 by record label Columbia. Recorded between October 2008 and February 2009 and produced by Steve Albini and Dave Eringa, it features exclusively posthumously published lyrics by Richey Edwards, who disappeared on 1 February 1995 and was presumed deceased in 2008. It is the only Manic Street Preachers album in which the lyrics for every song were written solely by Edwards.
The Bairns was the second album by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, which then comprised Rachel Unthank, her younger sister Becky, pianist Belinda O'Hooley and fiddle player Niopha Keegan. Produced by Adrian McNally and released by Rabble Rouser on 20 August 2007, it was nominated for the Best Album award at the 2008 BBC Folk Awards and was also nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize. It received a four-starred review in The Guardian.
Esben and the Witch are a British three piece rock band formed in Brighton in 2008. consisting of Rachel Davies, Thomas Fisher (guitar), and Daniel Copeman. Their name comes from the Danish fairytale, "Esben and the Witch".
Belinda O'Hooley is a singer-songwriter and pianist from Yorkshire, England. Formerly a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, she now records and performs as O'Hooley & Tidow with her wife Heidi Tidow.
O'Hooley & Tidow are an English folk music duo from Yorkshire. Singer-songwriter Heidi Tidow performs and records with her wife, singer-songwriter and pianist Belinda O'Hooley, who was formerly a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset. O'Hooley & Tidow were nominated for Best Duo at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their 2016 album Shadows was given a five-star review in The Guardian, and four of their other five albums, including their 2017 release WinterFolk Volume 1, have received four-star reviews in the British national press. In 2019 their song "Gentleman Jack", from the album The Fragile, featured as the closing theme for the BBC/HBO television series Gentleman Jack.
Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell were a contemporary English folk duo. Although they played some traditional songs, most of the songs they sang were their own compositions influenced by the folk tradition, but also songs by other artists such as Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Cole Porter, Brian Wilson and The Beatles.
Here's the Tender Coming, the third album by English folk group the Unthanks, and the first under The Unthanks moniker, was released in the United Kingdom on 14 September 2009 and in North America on 23 March 2010. It was Folk Album of the Year for Mojo and received four-starred reviews from The Observer and The Guardian. In the sleeve notes for the album, Rachel Unthank said that although the Tender in the album's title track refers to the boat that is on its way to press men to sea, "the title of this song seemed to encapsulate for us the feeling of our new album, which is perhaps calmer and a little warmer in contrast to the stark bleakness of The Bairns".
Cruel Sister, the first album by English folk group Rachel Unthank and the Winterset was released on 11 May 2005 and launched at Holmfirth Festival of Folk. Described by BBC Music as "an outstanding debut", it received support from a number of DJs on BBC Radio 2 and was subsequently awarded Folk Album of the Year by MOJO.
Music is My Silence, the first album by Belinda O'Hooley, was released on 13 June 2005 on the Rabble Rouser label, distributed by Cadiz Music. Reviewer David Kidman of Netrhythms.com described it as "a commanding and defiant set of thoroughly contemporary-sounding songs".
The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons, the fifth album by English folk group the Unthanks and the first to be recorded live, was released on 28 November 2011. Its extended title is: Diversions Vol. 1: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons: Live from the Union Chapel, London.
The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, the sixth album by English folk group the Unthanks, was released on 30 July 2012. Its extended title is: Diversions, Vol. 2: The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band. Recorded at Salford's The Lowry, at Leeds Town Hall, at Derby Assembly Rooms and St George's Bristol, it was the Unthanks' second live album. It was acclaimed by the critics, receiving a five-starred review in the Daily Express and a four-starred review in The Guardian.
Songs from the Shipyards, the seventh album by English folk group The Unthanks, was released on 5 November 2012. The album is designated Vol. 3 in The Unthanks' Diversions series and follows on from Vol. 1, released in November 2011 and Vol. 2, released in July 2012.
Futurology is the twelfth studio album by Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on 7 July 2014, through record label Columbia. The album features collaborations with Green Gartside, Nina Hoss, Georgia Ruth, Cian Ciaran and Cate Le Bon.
Mount the Air, the eighth album by English folk group the Unthanks, was released on 9 February 2015. It received five-starred reviews in The Daily Telegraph and The Irish Times and four-starred reviews in the Financial Times and The Guardian. It was the winner in the best album category in the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Adrian McNally is a record producer, a composer/songwriter and a musician with English folk group the Unthanks, which he also manages. As well as producing all of the Unthanks' albums he has produced the compilation album Harbour of Songs for which he was commissioned by The Stables in Milton Keynes as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, an album for Belinda O'Hooley and albums for Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell.
The Songs and Poems of Molly Drake is an album by English folk group the Unthanks. It was pre-released on the band's website in April 2017, prior to its official release on 26 May 2017, and received a five-starred review in The Independent. It contains recordings of songs and poems written by Molly Drake, the mother of Nick Drake, and recitations of Molly's poems by her daughter Gabrielle Drake. An album of further poems and songs, The Songs and Poems of Molly Drake: Extras, was released simultaneously.
Lines , a trilogy of albums with a poetic theme by English folk group the Unthanks, was pre-released on the band's website in November 2018, on 10" vinyl, CD and download, prior to their official release on 22 February 2019. They were made available as three separate albums and also packaged together in a slipcase.
The Big Eyes Family Players/ Big Eyes Family are a group from Sheffield, UK, formed in 1999 by multi-instrumentalist James Green. They initially recorded experimental music under the name Big Eyes, but in 2006 they changed their name and began to venture more into folk and traditional music. They are best known for two albums of traditional material: Folk Songs, which they released in collaboration with the Scottish singer-songwriter James Yorkston on Domino Records in 2009; and the follow-up, Folk Songs II, featuring a variety of guest vocalists and released on Static Caravan Recordings in 2012.
Live and Unaccompanied, an a cappella album by English folk group the Unthanks, was recorded live at various venues in the UK and Ireland in April and May 2019 and released in March 2020. It consists of 13 songs, sung by Rachel and Becky Unthank and Niopha Keegan without the accompaniment of other members of the Unthanks band. The audio CD is also packaged in a "Special film edition" which includes a film on DVD, As We Go, by Ainslie Henderson, about the Unthanks' life on the road.
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