In Winter is an abstract new work that captures the warmth and nostalgia of the festive season,the chill and darkness of the winter months, and the reflective ritualisms of the turn of the year;the end and beginning of the circle of life. You will hear what a Tyneside band playing a GermanChristmas song in the style of The Beach Boys sounds like! A Spanish carol performed by Englishfolkies through the filter of Tom Waits. A newly written tribute to the NHS. An abstract take on ACeremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten. Traditional wassails and old stories coloured with folknoir and traces of Vincent Guaraldi’s Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. In typical magpie style, TheUnthanks collect and reimagine, at once unique and familiar, inspired but natural and effortless. 

In Winter features a new sound palette for The Unthanks, incorporating vibraphone, clarinet andsaxophone into the core band that features vocal harmony, piano, violin, double bass, guitars andpercussion. 

The Unthanks tell stories that capture children. They make music cutting edge enoughto be BBC 6Music regulars. They can equally be found on Radios 2, 3 and 4, reframinghistory and drawing together the worlds of folk, jazz, orchestral, electronic and rockmusic. The believability of their storytelling is admired by some of our best storytellers -Mackenzie Crook, Elvis Costello, Maxine Peake, Nick Hornby, Martin Freeman, RobertWyatt, Charles Hazelwood, Ben Myers and David Mitchell, to name a few.At the nucleus of a constantly evolving unit is the traditional upbringing of Tynesidesisters Rachel and Becky Unthank and the arrangements and writing of Barnsley composer,pianist and producer, Adrian McNally. 

The Unthanks have been described as “a take on tradition that flips so effortlesslybetween jazz, classical, ambient and post-rock, it makes any attempt to put a label onthem a waste of time”. 

Using the traditional music of the North East of England as a starting point, the influenceof Miles Davis, Steve Reich, Sufjan Stevens, Robert Wyatt, Antony & The Johnsons, KingCrimson and Tom Waits makes The Unthanks a unique band, earning them a MercuryMusic Prize nomination and international acclaim along the way. 

“The Unthanks are capable of such beauty that sometimes I can hardly bear to listen to them.”Martin Freeman 

“There are few times when you discover a band and they stalk immediately to the heart ofeverything you love and hold dear.” Maxine Peake 

“They run from the very root of folk music to the very tip of the branch.” Elvis Costello 

“It’s quite a rare thing now. They’ve really got everything you could want from music. And I’m veryfussy.” Robert Wyatt 

“Few of their contemporaries, within both folk music and the wider artistic spectrum, have such akeenly-honed ability to locate in a song the emotional essence that can, in just a single phrase orvocal elision, cut one to the quick.” The Independent 

“The Unthanks have covered a lot of ground in the past decade and watching them evolve overthis period has been truly inspiring.” Phillip Selway (Radiohead) 

“The honest and heartfelt way in which they deliver their music is a true inspiration to me.” MartinHayes“It hits you in your soul rather than your head. I love them.” Adrian Edmondson 

“If there was such a thing still as having a favourite band like in the old days, I’d say they were myfavourite band.” Paul Morley