Mount The Air will be released in advance of the band’s Dublin shows at the National Concert Hall on March 12, and the Empire, Belfast, March 13.
Mount The Air is the first studio album by The Unthanks since Last was released four years ago. The Unthanks will tour the new album with a 10-piece ensemble .
The title track will be released as a single next month. Mount The Air took two years to make and is the first to be recorded in the band's own studio in Northumberland, an old granary building, near where where Rachel Unthank and Adrian McNally live with their two young sons. The album is released on their own label, RabbleRouser, despite offers from major labels.
“All I can say about The Unthanks is that they make my heart beat faster, or smile a lot, or cry," says actor Martin Freeman (The Office, The Hobbit Trilogy). “They mean it. And not in some dreary 'authentic' way that feels like a penance for the listener, but just natural. They sing and play what the hell they like, and if you've heard nicer harmonies this year, I may call you a liar. I'm glad to be around at the same time as them.”
The video for Mount The Air is made by animator Nick Murray Willis, who was invited onto a BAFTA judging panel on the strength of his video for Last, released by The Unthanks in 2011.
