The Unthanks

How many artists have journeyed through as much musical ground as The Unthanks over the past two decades? BBC 6 Music regulars, but equally to be found on Radios 2, 3 and 4, the Tyneside band are like magpies, picking up undiscovered jewels, reframing history and drawing on the worlds of folk, jazz, orchestral, electronica and art-rock to create their own unique truth and beauty. They have won Mojo Magazine Folk Album of the Year twice, they were the only British folk representation in The Guardian’s and Uncut’s Best Albums of the Decade (worldwide, all genres), and count amongst their admirers fellow storytellers including Elvis Costello, Maxine Peake, Michael Sheen, Rosanne Cash, Martin Freeman, Robert Wyatt, Martin Hayes, Nick Hornby, Ben Myers and Dawn French.

Using the traditional music of the North East of England as a starting point, the influence of Miles Davis, Steve Reich, Sufjan Stevens, Robert Wyatt, Antony & The Johnsons, King Crimson and Tom Waits can be heard in the band’s 16 records to date, earning them a Mercury Music Prize nomination and international acclaim along the way.

The Unthanks are constantly evolving. They have scaled up for orchestral and brass band shows, drawing on the arranging and composing skills of self-taught band leader Adrian McNally, and paired right back for the unaccompanied live record Diversions Vol 5, drawing on the traditional singing backgrounds of Rachel and Becky Unthank and Niopha Keegan. They’ve created song cycles from Emily Brontë’s poetry, site-specific theatre with Maxine Peake, soundtracks for Mackenzie Crook’s Worzel Gummidge, had music used on HBO’s True Detective, Peaky Blinders, Vera, and The Detectorists, and a string of ‘Diversions’ interpreting the work of Molly Drake, Anohni and Robert Wyatt.