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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL75N1NMIdg

the first single 'Trouble' was a total earworm too, think this will be better than the first one

lol the track sandwiched between the two singles on the album is actually titled 'Earworm', aiming high

2020 truly is the year of incredibly long albums huh

j/k I'm stoked for this

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/sep/25/songs-about-sewage-and-space-travel-its-prog-folk-band-hen-ogledd

the new Hen Ogledd album is an absolute delight!!!!!

I'm enjoying the new one too. The last one was ok - a bit frontloaded qualitywise.

It's fine. Some nice moments. Far too much Bothwell, who's quite annoying (although Trouble is good)

I wonder when he's going to release the album with Circle.

It’s way too twee for me. Dawson lockdown bandcamp daily is where it’s at.

https://www.nts.live/shows/richard-dawson

new collaborative album with finnish experimental band circle out november 26, titled henki. it's apparently a "hypno-folk-metal" concept album about "special plants throughout history"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO_FzRjmXiY

lead single "lily" is less awkward than a lot of the last album but doesn't really do much for me

i quite like it, but the artwork is stunning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nly2TwK4tio

oh i like this much more

What do we think

I vacillate between 'good' and 'could have been better' on my first listen

Closing track tho

I hope to buy this locally later.

solid, covering similarish ground to the last album but much improved

I had been observing him from afar and I can say this works well for me as an introduction. The krautrock is unobtrusive and gives a solid foundation for his chanting and falsetto, I like how expansive this is, good collaboration. I was listening to late career Robert Wyatt and also early Genesis the other day and this is totally in line, thanks to the piano touches and the songwriting in different parts / playing with different voice levels. Methuselah and Lily especially could be on Nursery Cryme or Selling England. Sounds great as a revival, if it was the intention.

Add Pitcher

Maybe it’s just fated that this would be my favourite thing Dawson has done - just to frustrate and perplex imago.

It really is great though.

Hey I still really do like it! It feels to me like there's not quite enough Circle until Pitcher, but the flipside of that is plenty of Dawson

https://thequietus.com/articles/30858-circle-richard-dawson-interview

interview suggests the collaboration is likely to be continuing beyond this, with circle calling dawson their new lead singer & everything, they seem extremely enthusiastic about it all

having circle as his backing band makes him going rock & really indulging his prog tendencies work so much better than on 2020, they're a really good fit. i'm revisiting 2020 and it still doesn't really move me - the songs are fine but the arrangements are so clunky

That's cool! Very exciting and I'm certain it will produce brilliant music. Great interview and write-up too

I sort of agree that this album's instrumentation suits his rock/prog choices better overall, although 2020 got the songwriting absolutely spot on at times - and hey, Black Triangle did the heavy rock thing superbly!

love this
ivy is a banger

Still haven't heard this, my copy apparently won't arrive for another few weeks, but love the positive reception so far. Coming from this as a Circle fan might be interesting, I've only checked out a few Dawson songs in the past (fine, but he never fully clicked for me). I'm happy about whatever brings Circle back out of (relative) slumber and gets them excited again.

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