• Rough Trade

Now here's an unusual idea for a record: Northumberland folk troupe the Unthanks, led by Becky and Rachel Unthank, cover a collection of songs by Robert Wyatt and Antony Hegarty. The sisters certainly like their wispy-voiced singers. Apparently, Wyatt and Hegarty are pleased by the results. Says Wyatt, who no longer performs live, "Quite simply, Antony & the Johnsons and I have been blessed by angels. If I had to take a single summary of what Alfie and I have being doing over the years to the proverbial desert island I wouldn’t take one of our own records. I'd take the crystal clear interpretations of the Unthanks." ("Alfie"?) Adds Hegarty, "I am flattered and mystified! Their voices are so pure."

While the NY-based Hegarty won the Mercury Prize for I Am a Bird Now (for which he wouldn't have qualified without his British birth certificate), the Unthanks received a Mercury nod for their second LP, The Bairns, which featured Wyatt's "Sea Song" (they released their fourth, Last, in 2011). Rachel also covered Hegarty's "For Today I Am a Boy" as Rachel Unthank & the Winterset.

The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons was recorded over two nights in London. With few exceptions—namely Cheap Trick's Live at Budokan—I prefer studio records over their live counterparts, but Becky and Rachel have the ideal voices to cover the work of these introspective gentlemen, in conjunction with stately piano, wistful strings, and charming between-song banter. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd opt for Wyatt's "Out of the Blue," in which introspection gives way to righteous indignation. For Diversions Vol. 2, I suggest Arthur Russell.

Track listing:

Antony & the Johnsons
1. Bird Guhl
2. Man Is the Baby
3. You Are My Sister
4. For Today I Am a Boy
5. Paddy’s Gone
6. Spiralling

All tracks from I Am A Bird Now,
except #5, from the single "You Are My Sister."

Robert Wyatt
7. Stay Tuned (Anja Garbarek) from Comicopera
8. Dondestan (Wyatt) from Dondestan (revisited)
9. Lullaby for Hamza (Wyatt/Benge) from Cuckooland
10. Lisp Service (Hopper/Wyatt) from Dondestan (revisited)
11. Free Will and Testament (Wyatt/Kramer) from Shleep
12. Out of the Blue (Wyatt/Elfriede Ellidge) from Comicopera
13. Cuckoo Madame (Wyatt/Benge) from Cuckooland
14. Sea Song (Wyatt) from Rock Bottom
15. Forest (excerpt) from Cuckooland