The Unthanks (until 2009, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset) are an English folk group known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk, particularly Northumbrian folk music, with other musical genres. Originally an all female band, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset made their debut performance at Towersley Village Festival in August 2004 and, in May 2005, launched their debut album Cruel Sister at Holmfirt Folk Festival. Cruel Sister received support from a number of DJs on Radio 2 and was subsequently awarded Folk Album of the Year by Mojo magazine.
Their follow-up album, The Bairns, released in August 2007, was nominated for the Best Album award at the Radio 2 Folk Awards 2008 and was runner-up for the 2008 Mercury Prize. The album debuted in the UK Top 200 Albums at number 178 in the week after the Mercury Prize award ceremony. Reviewing The Bairns for BBC Music, Mel Ledgard described it as “an album with a cinematic quality, huge in dramatic atmosphere”. In a four-starred review, Robin Denselow of The Guardian nominated it as “one of the folk records of the year”.
In 2009, the band became the Unthanks, and their manager Adrian McNally and his childhood friend Chris Price joined the group. Here’s The Tender Coming, their third album (and the first under the Unthanks moniker), was released in September 2009. It was Folk Album of the Year for The Guardian and also for Mojo magazine. Sid Smith of BBC Music, described it as an “astonishing record”, “beautiful”, “haunting”, and “beguiling”.
Their fourth album, Last, was released in March 2011, reaching number 40 in the UK Album chart, and received a five-starred review in the Sunday Express and four-starred reviews in The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. In his review for the Sunday Express, Martin Townsend proclaimed it “a gorgeously unhurried, utterly mesmerising masterpiece”. Thomas H Green of The Daily Telegraph said it was “string-laden and luscious but also delicate, wistful and melancholy”. Robin Deneslow for The Guardian, described it as “a bold and highly original set”.
Their album Mount the Air, released in February 2015, received five-starred reviews in The Daily Telegraph and The Irish Times. The Telegraph ‘s reviewer Helen Brown described the album as “a slow, swirling affair that mixes original material with traditional tales. Underpinned by McNally’s cool, fluid piano it’s simultaneously ancient and fresh.” In a four-starred review for the Financial Times, David Honigmann said: “Once a bleak Northumbrian chamber folk outfit, the Unthanks have reinvented themselves on a symphonic scale, as witness the 10-minute title track, ushered in on harps and with an orchestration that recalls Gil Evans’s work for Miles Davis.” Mount the Air was the winner in the best album category in the 2016 Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Series 3 of the BBC Four TV series Detectorists was inspired by Dave Dodds’ song “Magpie”, as performed by the Unthanks on their album, and the song was played in the first episode of the series. On 3 August 2018 the group performed at The Proms in Prom 27: Folk Music around Britain and Ireland. Their set included “Magpie”, “Gan to the Kye”, “Mount the Air” and “The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry”. The Unthanks composed and performed the soundtrack for the 2019 BBC production of Worzel Gummidge,] and appeared on screen in the Christmas 2020 episode ‘Saucy Nancy’.
