Trembling Bells and The Unthanks, The Arnolfini 21st March 2011

Bit late for this, but given BRoutes is playing catch-up, might as well throw it into the mix.

Here's the shock: grunge-folk Trembling Bells outclassed Northumberland's finest The Unthanks for the entirety of their woefully short 30-minute support set, even without their band-leader, founder and arranger, Alex Neilson, on drums (his little brother stepped up to the plate in his stead).  Anyone who is going to read this blog will know how good The Unthanks are, how much fun Rachel and Becky's between-song patter is and how sad it is that they don't play their cover of Robert Wyatt's Sea Song live any more. 

But if you want to know what a post-Nirvana Pentangle might sound like, catch Trembling Bells. 


Playing the more trad-folk-friendly tunes from their three stuido albums (which doubtless explained why there was no Baby, Lay Your Burden Down), the four-piece threw the gathered folksters a necklace of assorted jewels including Willows of Carbeth (from Carbeth), Adieu England (from Abandoned Love) and the big, ancient sound of Goathland (from their hot-off-the-press The Constant Pageant).  The night was made by the combination of Lavinia Blackwell's highwire soprano, reminiscent of Sandy Denny in her heyday, and Mike Hasting's unashamedly unfolky guitar, a mix that would be fretfully discordant in less confident hands but which filled the room with drama and (rare word) beauty in theirs.  Yes, the drumming didn't quite display the freestyle, parkour brilliance of the big brother; yes, Blackwell has yet to grasp the nettle of full-on audience interaction (but they were only given half an hour); yet none of that really mattered.  Trembling Bells have remade 70's folk-rock with an intelligence and an understanding of both tradition and modernity that is almost unique in today's musical landscape.  Their albums have been restlessly inventive, shapeshifting, and it turns out that they can take that sound and make it live, live.

Next time, Bristol, give them time.

Oh, and The Unthanks were pretty good too.  But it's going to take a lot to beat their performance (as Rachel Unthank and The Winterset) at QEH two years ago...