A CURIOUS MIX OF BRITISH FOLK MUSIC AND AMERICAN POLITICS
Amazing
From the early days of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset to their configuration as The Unthanks, one of the constants has been the fiddle and vocals of Niopha Keegan. On Diversions Vol. 5 – Live and Unaccompanied, she joins Becky and Rachel as the third voice in a trio focused on the spectral qualities of three unaccompanied voices singing live to an audience.
The Unthanks have never been ones to shy away from a challenge, having covered everyone from Robert Wyatt to King Crimson, yet there is a glory in being able to hear their voices completely unadorned. Building from one to three voices in a matter of notes, ‘One By One’, establishes a high bar. The song, a tale of longing and loneliness, haunts, “We go walking out at night, as we wander through the grass, we can hear each other pass, but we’re far apart, far apart in the dark.”
The traditional, ‘I’m Weary Of Lying Alone’, with the voice of Niopha Keegan singing the lead, establishes the pain of being alone. “If I got a comely young man who would take me without fortune and make me a wife of his very own. For the truth is, I’ll say is, I’ll die in despair If I lie any longer alone, alone.” However, the mood isn’t always one of despair, ‘Geordie Wedding Set’ is rollicking collection, incorporating the traditional ‘We’ll Aal Be Wed In Our Auld Claiths’ and ‘Hi Canny Man’.
Clocking in at just over a minute, ‘Where’ve Yer Bin Dick’ from Here’s The Tender Coming is a song of disappointment three times over. From selling papers for half their worth to courting a girl but only getting disappointing kisses to the final disaster, “Where’ve yer bin Dick? Down at library, I’ve been waiting for a book. Got no pictures, couldn’t read it. Were it worth it? No, it weren’t.”
Voices pure and harmonies a plenty, this is never clearer than on ‘We Picked Apples In A Graveyard Freshly Mowed’. There are but three singers, yet the clarity of the lines suggests more. Finally there is ‘Farewell Shanty’, where the voices of Becky, Rachel and Niopha are joined by the entire audience to create an exquisite closing track.
The wonder of the Unthanks is why these albums are called diversions. After all, Diversions No. 5 – Live And Unaccompanied is a main course worth savouring in its own right.
Source: Album | The Unthanks – Diversions Vol. 5 – Live and Unaccompanied
People are asking how it is that Trump’s approval ratings are higher than ever: an average of all the polls has him at 47%, a three-point increase. Two things: it is completely normal for a president to get an approval bump during a national crisis, and Trump’s is actually smaller than the bumps other presidents have gotten in crises. Leaving aside the extraordinary 39-point bump President George W. Bush got from 9-11 because it skews everything, President George H. W. Bush’s approval rating jumped 16 points at the start of the Gulf War, and that range is pretty typical. Trump’s bump still leaves him within the realm of his usual support levels, and, in any case it is unlikely to last.
The second point is more interesting. Why are some ordinary people supporting Trump more and more fervently, when most observers think his presidency has been, at best, troubled?
Over the course of today, a story began to emerge that illustrates the answer to that question. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), who took Russian money from indicted political operative Lev Parnas,* began to argue that the reason the novel coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Florida is not because he refused to close the beaches, which are still crowded, (but not as crowded as they were during spring break, when masses of young revelers flocked to the state), or because he has refused to issue a statewide lockdown, as other governors have done. [ . . . ]