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"Simply gripping..their ambition knows no bounds" fRoots
With the brand new album The BAIRNS, Rachel Unthank & The Winterset have accomplished the seemingly impossible task of creating a unique successor to the group’s highly acclaimed début album Cruel Sister. Rather than resting on their laurels, they have created a work that is, paradoxically, both more commercially accessible and musically challenging than its predecessor. Empathically striking and wholeheartedly brave, The BAIRNS is rich with the quality of centuries-old songs and the creative force of four young musicians at their peak. Rachel Unthank & The Winterset push themselves and the listener, reaching profound levels of emotional and musical complexity, chaos and clarity.
Dancing down the leftfield and singing in their own lilting Geordie accents, Rachel Unthank & The Winterset have the power to embrace both staunch tradition and sonic adventure. The all-girl Northumbrian group has steadfastly courted the mainstream without diluting their folk music and this intuitive direction has lured fans as disparate as Nic Jones, Joan As Policewoman, Kate Rusby and Alasdair Roberts. Fearless, peerless and wholeheartedly brave, they do the North-East proud with the honesty and imagination brought to bear on its traditions but also deliver equally charming interpretations of songs by the likes of Antony & The Johnsons, Robert Wyatt and Bonnie Prince Billy.
"I just love it..I simply can’t recommend them enough”
-Bob Harris, BBC Radio 2
"Simply gripping..their ambition knows no bounds"
- fRoots
"simultaneously graceful and unflinching..spellbinding"
- Metro News
"joyous..refreshingly forthright and in-yer-face"
- Mojo Magazine
"austere and glacial.. one of my favourite albums of the year"
- Stuart Maconie