Narc. Magazine Online
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Lee Fisher gets into the Christmas spirit with a special show from The Unthanks
Image by Jay Dawson
As great as the main hall at The Glasshouse sounds, it’s a very hard space to make feel intimate, which is one of the reasons tonight’s special Unthanks show was such a treat – from the lighting design onwards, everything came together to make the whole evening feel cosy. Festive even, dammit. From the moment Adrian McNally appeared onstage to play a twinkling, delicate piano intro (In Winter’s Night), it was clear this was going to be quite unlike any previous Unthanks show. Presenting the recent, gorgeous In Winter album in (almost?) full, there was nothing from their considerable back catalogue, and the line-up was different too, with Faye MacCalman on saxophone and clarinet, Will Hammond on vibes and more and Dan Rogers on bass joining the core quintet. And there was also some excellent use of the harmonium (we’re all suckers for a harmonium, right?)
Everything about this show was a success: the arrangements, the set order, the subtle and sparing use of sound effects to enhance the wintry mood. More than ever, the use of silence and stillness worked beautifully and the way Faye, Nioptha and Will interacted sounded really special. As with the album, the ghost of Vince Guaraldi was ever-present but the room did also start to feel like the middle of Allendale on New Year’s Eve or a village green in Tynedale on Christmas Day as the sisters gave us memories of Christmas’ past and stories behind the songs they’d chosen. Their voices remain one of the wonders of the modern world, that sibling harmony phenomenon in full effect, and there’s something really lovely in the way that after all these years they still clearly support each other with just an encouraging look or smile. There was a version of the 12 Days Of Christmas which is currently being used in Fenwick’s Christmas window display, some clog dancing from Rachel and a closing Dear Companions with the audience standing in for the choir on the album. By the time we filed out into a bitterly cold Tyneside night, even the hardest, most humbug-inclined heart (mine, for example) was feeling that little bit more Christmas-ready.
