Canard
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2020
- Messages
- 1,992
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The Unthanks
Here they sing Magpie, a very old counting song/nursery rhyme compounded with "old ways" folk "science." Nice harmonium drone.
I first heard them (their studio version of the song) in Mckenzie Crook's TV series, The Detectorists, a sitcom about people in England who go metal detecting, detectorists. I am reluctant to recommend the series as it is so alien to the pacing and production values of North American TV, and it is also very UK-culture-bound - I suspect that you will either love it or find it slow-paced and terminally boring. It is a show about everything and nothing with a focus on life in the insignificant and all-important microcosm. Anyway, Crook's character and his friend, are searching a field where they suspect there is a Roman cremation urn burial. Crook's character finds a bronze Roman falconer's whistle, cleans it out, and blows it with a spooky effect. As the two detectorists leave the field to head off to the pub for a pint, the field's memories of itself play out to the Unthanks singing Magpie; the memories have been awoken by the whistle. It is, of course an artistic affectation, but I found it quite haunting.
Here they sing a trad New Year's song.
Here they sing Magpie, a very old counting song/nursery rhyme compounded with "old ways" folk "science." Nice harmonium drone.
I first heard them (their studio version of the song) in Mckenzie Crook's TV series, The Detectorists, a sitcom about people in England who go metal detecting, detectorists. I am reluctant to recommend the series as it is so alien to the pacing and production values of North American TV, and it is also very UK-culture-bound - I suspect that you will either love it or find it slow-paced and terminally boring. It is a show about everything and nothing with a focus on life in the insignificant and all-important microcosm. Anyway, Crook's character and his friend, are searching a field where they suspect there is a Roman cremation urn burial. Crook's character finds a bronze Roman falconer's whistle, cleans it out, and blows it with a spooky effect. As the two detectorists leave the field to head off to the pub for a pint, the field's memories of itself play out to the Unthanks singing Magpie; the memories have been awoken by the whistle. It is, of course an artistic affectation, but I found it quite haunting.
Here they sing a trad New Year's song.
