Mount The Air is the new album by The Unthanks, and the title track is the first single from it – an arresting revision of the ten minute opening piece, that marks their return in audacious and scintillating style.
When The Unthanks released ‘Last’ in 2011, Uncut wrote that “The Unthanks seem to regard folk music the same way Miles Davis regarded jazz: as a launch pad for exploring the wider possibilities”. Two years in the making and recorded in their Northumberland studio, they take that analogy a step further on Mount The Air, with a beautiful opening title track and single that has echoes of Miles Davis and Gill Evans in their Sketches of Spain period, and climaxes with a euphoria reminiscent of Arcade Fire or Elbow, but without guitars, creating power instead with breathtaking musical colour and beauty.
Written by Unthanks pianist and producer, Adrian McNally, the single is based on the themes of a one-verse traditional ditty, found in a book of Dorset songs in Cecil Sharp House by Becky Unthank, who also co-wrote some of the new words alongside McNally. The video to the track is made by acclaimed animator Nick Murray Willis, whose work with the band on their previous single ‘Last’, earned him a place on the BAFTA judging panel.
VIEW THE VIDEO HERE:
For an album so long in the making, there is considerable anticipation for Mount The Air, not least from the many fellow performers who count themselves as fans of The Unthanks, including Martin Freeman, Elvis Costello, Colin Firth, Robert Wyatt, Ben Folds, Ryan Adams, Rosanne Cash, Dawn French, Ade Edmondson, Al Murray, Matt Lucas, Stephen Mangan, Boy George, Ewan McGregor and Nick Hornby.
Having turned down continued offers from majors, Mount The Air is released on their own label, RabbleRouser Music, on 9th Feb 2015.
Mount The Air (Single Version) is released 8th Dec 2014.
Pre-0rder links, along with special offers, extra content, limited editions and vinyl options, can be found here: http://www.the-unthanks.com/
The Unthanks put Mount The Air on tour with a 10-piece ensemble in Feb/March 2015:
21 Feb Southampton Turner Sims
22 Feb Exeter Corn Exchange
24 Feb Yeovil Octagon Theatre
25 Feb Bristol Colston Hall
26 Feb Cardiff St George’s Hall
27 Feb Nottingham Albert Hall
28 Feb Sheffield City Hall
01 Mar Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
03 Mar Bury St Edmunds The Apex
04 Mar Brighton Dome
05 Mar Ashford Revelation St Mary’s
06 Mar Norwich Open
07 Mar London The Roundhouse
08 Mar Warwick Arts Centre
10 Mar Leeds Irish Centre
11 Mar Manchester The Ritz
12 Mar Dublin National Concert Hall
13 Mar Belfast Empire
14 Mar Newcastle City Hall
19 Mar Middlesbrough Town Hall
20 Mar Edinburgh Queens Hall
The Rocker - The Artist Formerly Known As Zeitgeist. TAFKAZ 
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