What a delightful, unlooked-for discovery, courtesy of my recent haunting of the local public libraries!
The Unthanks are an English folk group, and here they've covered six of Antony's songs (all but one from I Am A Bird Now, which more and more as time passes feels like a true classic) and nine-ish of Robert Wyatt's (one is very short and an 'excerpt'); the live-in-chamber air works a treat.
The Antony ones are done in relatively spare, piano-based style, which honours their beautiful melodies while allowing the sisters-vocalists' graceful voices to shine. All of the songs come through strongly: "Bird Gerhl", "Man Is The Baby", "You Are My Sister", "For Today I Am A Boy", "Paddy's Gone" (this one was new to me) and "Spiralling". And the Wyatt ones cover more ground, to good effect; the only one whose original I know, "Sea Song", is terrific but the others sparkle too.
Marvellous. I'll definitely be seeking out more of theirs.
The Unthanks are an English folk group, and here they've covered six of Antony's songs (all but one from I Am A Bird Now, which more and more as time passes feels like a true classic) and nine-ish of Robert Wyatt's (one is very short and an 'excerpt'); the live-in-chamber air works a treat.
The Antony ones are done in relatively spare, piano-based style, which honours their beautiful melodies while allowing the sisters-vocalists' graceful voices to shine. All of the songs come through strongly: "Bird Gerhl", "Man Is The Baby", "You Are My Sister", "For Today I Am A Boy", "Paddy's Gone" (this one was new to me) and "Spiralling". And the Wyatt ones cover more ground, to good effect; the only one whose original I know, "Sea Song", is terrific but the others sparkle too.
Marvellous. I'll definitely be seeking out more of theirs.
