Unthank Smith - Nowhere and Everywhere
I was mildly surprised, to say the least, when I learnt that Paul Smith (long-serving front-person of indie rockers Maxïmo Park) had recorded an album with famed folk musician Rachel Unthank. However, it appears that this collaboration was born out of a meeting backstage after an Africa Express show in Middlesborough Town Hall. Both artists hail from the North East, and whilst Unthank has been infused with folk music all her life, Smith too grew up listening to the likes of Nick Drake and Martin Carthy, each of whom would influence his own guitar style. The result of these two worlds collaboratively colliding is 'Nowhere and Everywhere', a stunning collection of songs laden with Tyne, Wear and Teeside tradition, and featuring a wonderfully balanced pairing of voices.
Within the ten tracks on 'Nowhere and Everywhere' are a mixture of epic ballads, traditional songs, and new material, some of which sources the work of local poets. Three of the songs are performed unaccompanied, elsewhere Smith's guitar work and Unthank's cello and harmonium are augmented by Faye MacCalman on clarinet, and Alex Neilson on drums and percussion. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by David Brewis (of Field Music) at his studio in Sunderland.
It is so hard to pick a favourite track off this album – from the stark vocal pairing of 'Captain Bover', a traditional Tyneside press gang song, to the joyous St Stephens Day tradition of 'The King', where the wren becomes king of the birds for a day, this collection is a keeper. 'Seven Tears', written by Unthank, is dark and mysterious, a tale of the selkies (seals that can take on human form), inspired by Celtic and Norse mythology. Smith's poignant lament 'Robert Kay' remembers a WW1 soldier killed on the battlefield just days before he was due to return to his parent's pub in Stockton-on-Tees. 'Hourumarye',written by Graeme Miles and originally the title track of The Wilsons' 1980's album, becomes a hauntingly atmospheric piece, capturing the very sound of the winds howling across Fylingdales.
Ok, so push me, and I might choose the duo's unaccompanied rendition of Lal Waterson's whimsical hangover song, 'Red Wine Promises', with its glorious description of a black beetle, stuck on its back, unable to stand the right way up. But then I would be ignoring their epic version of 'Lord Bateman', a traditional 18th century tale of imprisonment and broken promises, and also the swaying sadness of the Teeside folk song 'O' Mary Will You Go', a song of economic migration with words by local poet Richard Watson.
No. Every single track is a winner. You'll just have to buy the album, and find out for yourselves.
8/10
