The Unthanks in Winter

Described as ‘the gold standard’ of all winter records alongside Frost and Fire by The Watersons in afive star review from the Times, The Unthanks In Winter is a dream-like winter fantasia, embracing both the dark and the light in the most ritualistic of seasons. Moving in and out of focus, like a memory, In Winter is a bittersweet hymnal to our shared winter experience. It’s an extensive, completist time-capsule of the season,featuring Christmas tunes known throughout the world from multiple cultures, mixed with the traditional and the newly written, all passed with great care and love through The Unthanks filter.

In Winter has been described as “an artful triumph” (Songlines), “a massive statement”(Klof), “the definitive folk album for winter” (TradFolk), “the essence of winter in all itsemotional complexity” (Fatea), “an absolute gem and one of thefinest albums theUnthanks have given us yet” (Narc), “truly beautiful music, full of winter chill and familialwarmth“ (Buzz), “As breathtaking as freezing air” (The Telegraph), “a rare beast thattranscends the notion of a Christmas album” (Silent Radio), “the familiar made strange(The Wire) and “a timeless celebration of winter. One of the few albums of its type totranscend its limited purpose.” (Record Collector).

In their typical magpie style, The Unthanks collect and reimagine, at once unique and familiar, inventive but natural and effortless. Hear a Tyneside band playing a GermanChristmas song in the style of The Beach Boys; a Spanish carol performed by English folkies through the filter of Tom Waits; a French carol given desert-blues menace, a newly written tribute to the NHS to the tune of O Holy Night; a wintry opening piece inspired by A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten; traditional wassails and oldstories coloured with folk noir and traces of Vincent Guaraldi’s Merry Christmas Charlie Brown.