Unthanks Lines Part 1, 2 & 3 The Complete Trilogy

PART ONE - LILLIAN BILOCCA
The lines in Part One - Lillian Bilocca - were written by actor and writer Maxine Peake and again turned into song by McNally, the songs originally being performed live by The Unthanks in The Last Testament Of Lillian Bilocca, the acclaimed site specific theatre event written by Peake, about the Hull Triple Trawler Disaster of 1968 in which 58 men lost their lives. Taking place in the Autumn of 2017 and set in the atmospheric rooms and corridors of Hull's grand Guildhall, the show came top of audience feedback ratings for all events commissioned by Hull City Of Culture.

PART TWO - WORLD WAR ONE
The lines for Part Two - World War One, are those of poems and letters from the time. Written and performed in the opening centenary year (2014) for A Time And A Place - a live audio visual work commissioned by Sounds UK and the Arts Council, the songs include writing by Adrian McNally, Sam Lee and Tim Dalling. Of particular note are the poems Socks by Jesse Pope and the startling and heart-wrenching War Film by Teresa Hooley; two poems offering lesser heard female voices from the time, and that speak against war with such humanity that they could apply to any side of a conflict and to any time. The piano for Part Two - World War One was recorded on the very piano that Holst wrote The Planets on, between 1914 and 1916.

PART THREE - EMILY BRONTË
The final record in this trilogy is collection of ten poems by Emily Brontë, turned into song by Unthanks pianist Adrian McNally. Commissioned by the Brontë Society to mark Emily's 200th Birthday, McNally wrote and recorded them on her original piano in The Parsonage where she grew up, performed with bandmates Rachel and Becky Unthank. With the Brontë Parsonage now a working museum of course, the writing and recording had to take place after nightfall. Composer, pianist and producer Adrian McNally wrote the music for the whole record in his first evening at Emily's piano (a rare example of a 5 octave cabinet piano probably made in London between 1810 and 1815), before spending the rest of the residency working on the songs by day on a beautiful German upright at his lodgings in nearby Ponden Hall - another house associated with the Brontës. He would then take his work-in progress into the Parsonage to road test them on Emily's piano in the evenings, before weeks later, returning with Rachel and Becky Unthank to record the songs.