There is often a sense of cheap cash-in to Christmas albums, a quick fix. Throw together a few familiar cover versions and the odd original, garnish with tinsel and sleigh bells for a quota, quickie package, a good way of fulfilling contractual obligations. Thankfully, The Unthanks’ ‘In Winter’ is a far more satisfying proposition. As the title suggests, it takes in the wider winter season rather than being preoccupied purely with Christmas. Such a record has been on sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank’s wish list for 15 years. During that gestation period, they have been researching and idly harmonising. That work is amply rewarded as the songs they have uncovered illustrate how the festive songs that appear in pubs, shopping centres and on most radio stations are such a limited selection when there is a much broader spectrum awaiting discovery. Last year, the work was toured in developmental form and it has given musical director and producer Adrian McNally full scope to expand his musical ambitions, often moving away from the piano. It has now reached fruition as a 19-track, 70-minute double album.
However, the opening track ‘In Winter’s Night’ was developed from one of McNally’s piano sketches. Based very loosely on the movement ‘In Freezing Winter Night’ from Benjamin Britten’s ‘A Ceremony of Carols’, it creates a chilly atmosphere, down to effects of icy winds blowing. ‘O Tannenbaum’ is a traditional German song sprinkled with jingle bells, some Beach Boys style bass, piano and Niopha Keegan’s violin. The Tannenbaum is a fir tree, its evergreen nature serving as a metaphor for constancy and faithfulness. Curiously, the melody sounds like ‘The Red Flag’ and it is easy to substitute its chorus for the “O Christmas tree” refrain.
The album really takes off with their arrangement of Graeme Miles’ ‘Dark December’ and its plea that “we should not curse the winter”. The sisters’ voices with their elements of child-like innocence and hints of their North-Eastern roots in their phrasing are spellbinding, all wrapped up with a gorgeous saxophone. ‘Gower Wassail’ refers to the tradition of wassailers going from house to house with a bowl decorated with holly and ivy, asking for anything that could be spared such as money, beer, spices. Traditionally, the song has a lilting, jolly chorus but The Unthanks’ arrangement is more subdued, almost sombre, which adds a whole extra level to it.
Where they tackle more familiar carols, they are mainly given an instrumental treatment to avoid directly engaging with the religious themes. While this could be risky as the group are best loved for the sisters’ voices, it showcases the quality of their arrangements. ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ utilises the tune widely used in the folk world, though briefly weaving in the more familiar version. ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ has broken-down piano that suggests the difficulty of retaining faith and the looped vocals which are restricted to the title sound almost ghostly. ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ is delicately rendered and ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ centres around vibraphone to create a hazy dream of childhood Christmas memories.
Based on a Catalan lullaby, ‘Carol of the Birds’, is the album’s most achingly beautiful moment. With a sense of mischief, it is placed next to ‘Carol of the Beasts’, written in the late 1600s by French lawyer and poet, Bernard de La Monnoye. It exudes menace, before bursting into a rare din led by squawking saxophone. ‘Bleary Winter’, composed by Chris Wood with words by Hugh Lupton is about the Enclosures Act and has tender, melancholy vocals and a minimalist arrangement on which the double bass notes stand out.
Rachel is in particularly fine voice on ‘The Snow It Melts The Soonest’. The tune is said to have been collected from a Newcastle street singer in 1821 by the radical agitator, Thomas Doubleday. With a gorgeous string arrangement and added celeste, it is among the album’s emotional pinnacles. ‘Coventry Carol’ is the darkest of carols, telling of King Herod’s Massacre of the Innocents where he called for the killing of all boys aged under two. its droning harmonium creates a stark atmosphere.
‘River River’ is the first of a pair of songs written by Becky with her partner, Ainslie Henderson. It conjures the crisp feel of winter walks in nature. Another original composition, McNally and Vanessa Lampert’s ‘Nurse Emmanuel’ is a post-Covid tribute to the NHS and the sacrifices made by its workers. On it, McNally take a rare lead vocal on the first verse before the sisters add their reassuring qualities and the song is bolstered by a lovely string quartet arrangement.
‘Tar Barrel in Dale’ was written by The Unthanks’ father, George. It celebrates a New Year tradition in Allendale, a Northumbrian village. Men dress up in costumes and process with flaming barrels of tar on their heads which they throw on the village square’s bonfire. Being sung a cappella gives it a special quality. ‘Greatham’ revisits in more abstract form a song that appeared on their first album, ‘Cruel Sister.’ The song takes inspiration from the Mummer’s play that is performed every Boxing Day in Greatham and the interplay between violin and piano is a particular delight.
Appropriately, the album ends with a parting song, Becky’s other original composition, ‘Good Companions’ which encapsulates how time spent together can live on in songs sung. The tune is taken from the hymn, ‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing’ and features a chorus from participants at their singing weekends. It makes for a stirring and emotional farewell. ‘In Winter’ itself is a rare beast that transcends the notion of a Christmas album. While it is not an album for parties, it captures the season with its melancholy and traditions perfectly, the voices and instrumentation acting like a warm coat protecting against the elements.
The Unthanks: In Winter – Out 29 November 2024 (Rabble Rouser Music)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
