Last [CD]

This is one of those albums that has to be listened to a few times to be fully appreciated.
Terrific vocals from the two ladies, sophisticated arrangements and superb musicianship all come together to create a haunting - if at times bleak - sound scape.
It's hard to single out individual tracks, as this work needs to listened to as a whole, but their cover of Tom Waits' No One Knows I'm Gone is stunning as is Starless, a King Crimson song I have not previously heard. Listen out for the trumpet on this track. Beautiful. The centrepiece and one of the highlights of the album has to be the title track, Last, almost at times Pink Floyd-esque in it's arrangement.
I love the way they sing in their native Northumbrian accent, it adds to the overall haunting quality of the album.
Superb, but give it time to grow on you. It will.
Let's hope that this album brings them the massive crossover success they deserve.

Quite how the Unthanks have managed it is anyone's guess but with their fourth and latest album "Last" they have recorded a work of stark beauty and huge maturity which tops all their previous work. The latter statement is not made lightly since many will argue that the "The Bairns" is a beautifully bleak treat and cannot be surpassed, while their last album "Here's the tender coming" saw the band produce a record which was so good it was almost obscene. Their unsentimental and honest takes on a range of traditional and new material has generated huge excitement around British folk and their crossover appeal is potentially massive with their take on traditional songs like "Annachie Gordon" or Ewan MacColl's "Nobody knew she was there" spine tingling in their mix of gritty Northumberland vocal phrasing and neo classical arrangements.

At the heart of the Unthanks vision is an ability to take just about any song and infuse it with either a deep folk melancholy or alternatively give it a new sheen, which essentially reinvents the original concept. There is neither any jumping on the nu-folk bandwagon for these musicians, indeed the word "uncompromising" often creeps into parlance when discussing the band, although perish the thought if that suggests a lack of accessibility or warmth. Far from it, as the huskiness in the voices of Rachel and Becky are beguiling and completely affecting and with their superb band they have produced in "Last" a reflective and world beating set of songs that draws you like a moth to a flame. The cover versions here include a breathy and gorgeous take on the great Tom Waits' "No One Knows I'm Gone", and also a little known song (which your reviewer had no familiarity) from north east singer Jon Redfern and his achingly sad lament on the Iraq war, "Give Away Your Heart". The Unthanks populate this with a late autumnal atmosphere drawn from the snowed-under Northumberland farmhouse where the album was recorded particularly on the refrain of "disappointment is everywhere" and the great piano accompaniment from Adrian McNally.

Perhaps the most surprising version on here is a cover of King Crimson's "Starless" from their 1974 album "Red" which is one of their greatest tracks but transformed on here from a song which in the primary version ends with a blistering sax jazz rock workout into in a slow ballad now based around trumpet and strings and half its original size. Rachel and Becky remain true to Robert Fripp's latent melody but infuse it with a vocal depth, which is astonishing. It works wonderfully but as always at the heart of the Unthanks work is their loyalty and commitment to the folk tradition and "Last" is jam packed with songs such as the opener "Gan To The Kye" and "The Gallowgate lad" both great versions of the 19th century rural ballads full of primal authenticity and pronounced dialect. In an album of highlights there are two songs, which especially grab attention at this early stage. The first is the already mentioned "No one knows when I'm gone" the second is the chilling and mournful version of Alex Glasgow's "Close The Coalhouse Door" which cites the terrible memory of the Aberfan disaster of 1966 which still scars the Welsh Valleys.

Overall Adrian McNally's is becoming a fine songwriter and the title track and its later shorter reprise which concludes the album reminds us that the Unthanks are more than just about the singers but the wider band. This album is an altogether darker affair than "Tender" and some may bemoan the Unthanks own admission of producing songs for "miserable buggers". They would be foolish in the extreme if that impression was all they gained from an album of such desolate raw beauty which proves that the Unthanks musical journey is one of the most interesting and imaginative in British music.

Sad, sorrowful, mournful, bleak and almost indescribably beautiful, this is a sepia-toned and autumnal body of work perhaps better suited to an October release than being unleashed just as the days are getting noticeably longer and warmer, but no matter - it's an album for all seasons.

Unlike its notable predecessor "Here's The Tender Coming", there's no up-tempo romp here to mitigate the pervading sense of gloom, but on reflection that kind of interruption would probably have been inappropriate, and might simply have broken the spell.

Without dismissing in any way some very fine original songwriting and arrangements, it is the two surprising cover choices that threaten to steal the show. The emotionally-charged treatment of Tom Waits' "No One Knows I've Gone" is genuinely jaw-dropping; the shortest track on the record, it's a real "hairs on the back of your neck" moment. Likewise, a stunning arrangement of King Crimson's prog-rock classic "Starless" (minus the prog) is destined to live long in the memory. A special record.