The Unthanks have already toured Sorrows Away. Perhaps you heard. The most important and best loved British folk group in the last 20 years are not unfamiliar with doing things their own way.
The anticipation for the delayed record release is all the greater after nights like the London Palladium show in May, that climaxed with a mass sing. On many other nights too, in Edinburgh and Dublin, Newcastle and Nottingham, sold out audiences all ready their feet for a standing ovation, would sing the album title, sonorously, defiantly, again and again, while the band presided silently, with big grins and the odd tear, before re-joining in chorus for one last time.
On the one hand, it is evidence that a band who have been making us cry for nearly 20 years, have done the unthinkable and made some music of joy and light! Inviting us after two years of Brexit, Covid and no live music to banish ‘sorrows away’, The Unthanks have turned two simple words into a prayer – a cathartic incantation to sing at the top of our voices, from the depths of our souls – SORROWS AWAY! – sending us home feeling like we have seen off the past, welcomed in the new and reconnected with one another.
On the other hand, could it have just been a clever marketing ploy? It’s a remarkable feat by the end of each night to have the entire audience singing your new album title back at you, over and over! When it’s going to be a few months until the release, its useful to make sure they’re definitely not going to forget!
They’re not going to. The extraordinary response already from live audiences to Sorrows Away, is an early indication that the record is at the very least going to breeze the daunting task of following up the BBC Folk Album Of The Year 2015.
Tour Dates as follows: (11-piece band)
12 October 2022 Sunderland, The Fire Station Auditorium
13 October 2022 Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
14 October 2022 Brighton, St George’s Church
15 October 2022 London, Kings Place (2 shows: 4pm and 7pm)
16 October 2022 Coventry, Warwick Arts Centre
17 October 2022 East Grinstead, Chequer Mead
18 October 2022 Oxford, Oxford Town Hall
19 October 2022 Chester, Storyhouse
20 October 2022 Buxton, Buxton Pavilion Arts
21 October 2022 Manchester, Band on the Wall
23 October 2022 Hexham, Queen’s Hall (2 shows: 3pm & 7.30pm)
For further information and ticket links please visit: www.the-unthanks.com
