Or perhaps un unthankyou (to torture a double negative.)
One of my highlights of Greenbelt festival was listening to The Unthanks– a totally surprising feast of gorgeous harmonies and instrumental arrangements.
And clog dancing.
I had heard the sisters Rachael and Becky sing before- and to be honest, despite being a lover of folk music- particularly of the northern British kind- I found it a bit too woolly-jumper-finger-in-the-ear. I could appreciate the history and the connection to something lost, but not quite be drawn in to the music.
I got round to ordering their recent album ‘last’-
This album combines lots of lovely things- wonderful songs, simple but sweet vocals, string quartet, guitar, piano- and the combination is beautiful.


Heard them on a Radio 4 prog, and not really being a fan of folk all that much, was surprised to find that their harmonies were so lovely and their arrangement of the music so good, especially as they’d said their only training was in the ‘folky’ oubs, listening to music as children. Congrats to them!