Skip to main content
NEU job vacancy
Ill-advised turn to heritage industry
The Unthanks at Castle Armoury Drill Hall, Bury, Greater Manchester, on 17 October 2015 [Robert Smith/Creative Commons]

The Unthanks
Leeds Town Hall

BECKY Unthank is considering the parallels between her family and that of the Brontes. They’re sisters. They have bodies of work obsessed by melancholy and death. They have a lesser-known brother.

These similarities are sufficient to qualify the folk band to commemorate the 200th birthday of Emily, who wrote Wuthering Heights, with a song cycle based on a selection of her poems.

Commissioned by the Bronte Society, the Northumbrian outfit were invited to work and record in the Parsonage Museum in Haworth. Becky and sister Rachel used the time to walk across the moors, “pretending we were Kate Bush,” while composer Adrian McNally played Emily’s five-octave cabinet piano under the watchful eye of curators.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Attila and comrades
Attila the Stockbroker / 18 April 2025
18 April 2025
Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
Steve Knightley
Music / 15 April 2025
15 April 2025

STEVE JOHNSON, CHRIS SEARLE and TONY BURKE review new releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ

IMMERSIVE: The Ligeti Quartet play Terry Riley at Kings Plac
Live Music Review / 12 February 2025
12 February 2025
SIMON DUFF immerses himself in the Kings Place D&B soundscape to relish a contemporary string quartet
Arooj Afta
Gig review / 11 November 2024
11 November 2024
WILL STONE relishes the subtle demonstations of political awareness that accompany two standout performers at Brighton’s Mutations festival