The Unthanks - thanks very much

Lots of visitors are arriving here after searching for The Unthanks new album, Here's The Tender Coming, so I thought I'd share my opinions with you.

I heard of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, as they were formerly known, via a cheap CD of up and coming folk acts a couple of years ago. I listened to their first album, Cruel Sister, and marvelled at the sound, the songwriting, the lyrical insight gained from singing about everyday life, then I put it away, because the bleakness of it all was too much even for a hard-bitten rodent such as myself.

However, snatches of lyrics kept coming to me as I performed the tasks featured in the songs - work, commuting, lonely evenings, and I gave in, only to discover that there's a warmth in the songs' appreciation of our shared experiences which I hadn't previously noted.

So that was their early music. Here's the Tender Coming is one for those of you with a sunnier disposition. Obviously this is relative: they're still a Northern folk troupe, but the mood is more melancholic than downright harsh than the second album, The Bairns, and the instrumentation is much more lush.

So yes, double thumbs up for the Unthanks. Give them something to smile about…

Work sucks

That's quite enough for one day. I'm off to buy tickets for The Unthanks (formerly Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, a very creepy folk band) and for Marcus Brigstocke, who makes my feeble attempts at sarcasm seem very amateur indeed. His rants are easily available on the web and are well worthy finding, such as this one:

I'm also off to get a hair cut. Not sure which one though, buy shoe polish, choose and air a suit and all the stuff I need to do for my sister's wedding on Saturday. I'm hoping for rain - I suspect she isn't.

A quick plug

For two events: Cruel Brother (named after an old ballad, or the mirror of Pentangle's 'Cruel Sister' album, or Rachel Unthank and the Winterset's album of the same name?) and the Deer Friend are performing this weekend, at the Chindit on Friday night, and supporting an ex-member of Fairport Convention at the Newhampton Inn on Saturday. Highly recommended folk/rock stuff, everybody. I'll hopefully be at the Chindit, depending on whether I have to go to Cardiff that day or early on Saturday.

Before that, however: please vote tomorrow. As long as you aren't planning to vote UKIP, Tory or BNP. If you are, the elections are on Friday. I always try to vote at 7 a.m. so that the Tories are losing straight away.