The Unthanks with the Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band
Album: Diversions Volume 2
Label: Rabble Rouser
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.the-unthanks.com

This is the second in a projected series of three albums on which the Unthanks explore the boundaries of folk culture and challenge our perceptions, either by presenting fresh original material or offering a daring new slant on often familiar repertoire. Diversions means diversity - and thus volume 1, which bravely covered songs by Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons, is succeeded by something that could not be more different.

It's actually the culmination of a project that began as a commission (from Brass: Durham International Festival) for the Unthanks' pianist, composer and producer Adrian McNally to write The Father's Suite, a four-movement, 16-minute piece in celebration of the first child of Rachel Unthank and McNally. This affectionate, poignant and reflective sequence is key to the whole album, and comprises an instrumental prelude composed by Adrian himself at age 16, the sampled voice of Jack Elliott in a commentary on religion, a central (and yes, fairly radical, but truthful) reworking of Ewan MacColl's The Father's Song, concluding with a meditative brass-bedecked coda composed by Adrian's own father Max.

This suite is a keen illustration of the rapprochement between the sound-worlds of contemporary classical and folk and the brass band ensemble. As Adrian is equally keen to point out in his typically percipient accompanying booklet notes, folk song and brass band music may be different (diverse) musical disciplines but often both were designed to speak for, and be spoken by, the same people, and therefore can claim a legitimate kinship; thus here they can, and do, unashamedly occupy the same platform, entirely free of any of the prejudice that might judge the special colourings of the brass band as "non-folkie" (after all, this unique ensemble is widely regarded as one of the defining musical sounds of the north of England!).

Several of the "supporting tracks" on this CD embody stirring new arrangements of songs from previous Unthanks albums, now re-scored with the brass band in full glowing glory; particularly captivating in this regard are Gan To The Kye, Felton Lonnin, Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk and Terry Conway's iconic anthem Fareweel Regality. The disc leads off, however, with Becky's gorgeous performance of David Sudbury's tale of The King Of Rome that stopped the show at the BBC Folk Awards just a few months ago: a hard act to follow, sure, but an enterprisingly episodic new take on Trimdon Grange Explosion is placed here to pave the way significantly powerfully for the aforementioned McNally suite. Other disc highlights range from the time-stilled chiming gamelan of Newcastle Lullaby to the blowsy brat-pack-style big-band rendition of Queen Of Hearts (where the scattish lead is so eloquently voiced by band drummer Chris Price).

All the disc's items are taken from live recordings, a practice which entirely suits the situational practicalities as against the awkward logistics of the recording studio in more reliably accommodating this particular combination of musical forces. And notwithstanding the often hair-pricklingly fine performances from the Unthank sisters, clearly truly inspired by the sense of occasion, from a purely musical standpoint the whole project is an astonishing personal achievement for Adrian, who despite having no "formal training" and being unable to read or write music, has with the assistance of the band's fiddle player Niopha Keegan written the brass scores for around half of the items on the record, including a wonderful setting of My Lagan Love (which Niopha herself sings so tellingly here), the remainder being thoroughly convincing adaptations by the band's conductor Sandy Smith.

This is an inspiring, uplifting and totally engaging CD, where any perceived physical disparity in recording locations is unquestionably offset by the magical, tangible atmosphere - and unreserved conviction - conjured by the performances. A triumph for all concerned.

David Kidman