Richard Dawson (raucous experimental UK folk racket w/ intense picaresque realness vox)

the one downside of dawson going full prog rock with circle is that it's not quite as distinct and singular as his previous work, and so something is lost there (i certainly still prefer peasant), but the results here are still very very good

Nothing Important and Peasant both sui generis masterpieces ofc yes and both in my top 3 albums of the previous decade, but losing that guitar was like losing a limb - he has adapted really well, but...at least we got what we did get

yeah absolutely

there's still a little of the guitar but it's a shame there's not more

i mean the specific guitar he made those two albums on. someone literally broke it beyond repair while he was touring Peasant and he took it as a cosmic sign and pivoted

Isn't there a little bit of myth-making here with this unique guitar story.

I wouldn't say so. I've heard it from his own mouth that the strange sounds he got out of it inspired his playing style, and that style has been notable for its absence ever since

idk he's still very much working in that style on 2020 even if the sound is a bit different

I havent been able to get this. My local shop has problems getting it delivered

time to crack out the ol' internet streaming imo

What guitar do you mean? The travel sized acoustic? It was already pretty beaten up

Yeah but it wasn't literally demolished by a careless band mate, and its weird acoustics were very much his muse

As a follow to this project up I'm hoping Jussi and Richard swap names and tour as Richard Dawson (Ex-Jussi Lehitsalo) and Jussi Lehtisalo (Ex-Richard Dawson).

Sally gonna have to swap identities with Jussi's partner to prevent awkwardness imo

xp - lol Noel, wouldn't surprise me

What guitar do you mean? The travel sized acoustic? It was already pretty beaten up

― Duke, Wednesday, 1 December 2021 13:50 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah but it wasn't literally demolished by a careless band mate, and its weird acoustics were very much his muse

― imago, Wednesday, 1 December 2021 14:05 

True. But I was always impressed by the huge chunk missing from the lower bout:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-9osMKSyb0

This is great. Ivy. Methusalah. Pitcher.

I really hope to see them live. I had tickets to a Dawson gig that was cancelled because of covid. I've only seen him solo (which was lovely of course) and would love to catch a full band show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOUQCBKyS-Y

Ah. That doesn't work here. A video of his Barbican gig from last year. The audio sounds a little glitchy to me, but you may have a better experience

seeing him live tonight has helped me appreciate some of the material off 2020 anew - he played all the tracks I'm not so keen on (Heart Emoji, Dead Dog, Freshers' Ball) solo with an electric guitar and they were SO much better. he was also v much in the mood for skronk, even with a new guitar - he seems to have found one that brings the old magic back. brilliant set - everything was reinterpreted, emphases in different places, even more barely-in-control than usual. Ogre brought the house down

Just back from the Dawson/Circle show which was great but the highlight was a full-pelt canter through Echo Beach as a tribute to Big Jeff Johns.

Prepare thyselves for...the future

https://richardmichaeldawson.bandcamp.com/album/the-ruby-cord

Apparently the opening track is 40 minutes long. Can you even imagine

ah, this is his aerial

haha yes

i sure hope he pulls it off

Haha so excited for this!

Can't wait to hear this

"the hermit" is pretty tremendous

yeah but have you heard The Tip Of An Arrow

thermonuclear challop: this album is if anything backloaded

The last track is quite earworm-y. It's still cycling through my head after a couple hours of silence!

yeah the whole album is excellent

looking forward to "the hermit" winning the eoy poll and annoying everyone - if "jogging" got to #3 there's no reason it can't do better and it is the single

I've not listened to the new one yet - saving it for the weekend.

He was on Adam Buxton's podcast (not listened to this, either): https://play.acast.com/s/adambuxton/ep194-richard-dawson

Okay on the second go around The Hermit is really quite something isn't it

Only listened to The Hermit so far but yeah incredible. The coda (I guess? Bit long for a coda maybe, idk the final 'tiny cobles' section) had me hypnotised.

thermonuclear challop: this album is if anything _backloaded_

I wasn't. The Fool onwards is perfection

or at least, close to it

seems like a big improvement on 2020. which i found much of fairly flat. lyrically, the move toward the ambiguous, disparate and unresolved is the right one. the 'short stories' on 2020 were far too neat, far too precise. glad he's returned the mystery to his work and understood that it would be false to try to communicate transparently something broken.

I was lucky to get a ticket to see The Hermit film screened this week, it was a deeply moving and affecting piece. Afterwards, Richard was deliberately very evasive about explaining or peeling back any layers. Which had the entirely correct result of leaving you to take it away as your own personal and private experience. Hopefully it'll make its way online at some point.

i think the film is being released online on tuesday

really love the way the last section of "museum" reproduces the central trick from "the rip"

^an astute observation that some fella made in the RYM shoutbox yesterday

https://i.ibb.co/MBDZDgT/Screenshot-20221119-075224.jpg

But yeah, this album isn't so much a return to folk as it is a dramatic expansion upon his pop adventures using the grammar of ensemble folk. While it is an improvement on 2020 it couldn't have been made without it

to me this one's an meditative and extensive expansion of peasant - very organically incorporating some of the sounds of 2020 and the hen ogledd albums into his folk. a sort of culmination

still have no real idea what the lyrics on this one are about for the most part (except "museum" is pretty obvious) and there aren't great transcriptions out there yet

there seems to be a lot about virtual reality and simulated existence, synthesised with a sort of primeval external life (and occasionally overlapping) - some heady retrofuturistic brew, utterly brilliant obv

The Fool may be the single most beautiful thing he’s ever written, weeping over here

I got to see a screening of The Hermit last week. Loved it.

On first listens I instinctively agree this album is better than 2020. I've not digested it at all lyrically and am looking forward to getting to know it better.

Just stumbled on a note that Drag City is reissuing the first two Hen Ogledd albums early next year.

Okay, just finished my first listen to "The Hermit", taking a break for a bit, but you guys are telling me the rest of the album is even better?

arguably

I mean, if it even just matches the quality of "The Hermit", it'll still likely be one of my favorite albums of the year.