Richard Dawson is the diminutive Geordie troubadour whose moving songs have been described as state-of-the-nation addresses, even — or perhaps especially — when he’s singing about pre-medieval peasants. Circle are the genre-straddling pioneers of The New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal, known for wearing spandex or dead fish onstage and singing in a made-up language. Together they are… Richard Dawson & Circle! Today, we are pleased to announce news of their collaborative album Henki, due November 26th via Weird World. Their epic joint record might seem a departure to those who are most familiar with Dawson from recent solo albums like 2017’s Peasant and 2020 (released in 2019). In fact, Henki fits comfortably into the bigger picture of two acts who have always strived for uninhibited originality.
The first track to be shared from Henki is “Lily”—less directly botanic and more about the ghostly visions experienced by Dawson’s mother when she worked as a nurse in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary. “Lily”’s video, directed by Mika Taanila, features Richard Dawson challenging snooker hero Steve Davis to a tense game, even if we’re quite sure how the result will pan out. The video receives its world premiere today via World Snooker—the site's first-ever music video feature. Watch it below.
Dawson explains the album’s title: “The word 'henki' roughly translates as 'spirit'. It's a very rich word, supple in its meaning in the same way as the Geordie 'canny'; difficult to pin down.” True to its name, while Henki is influenced in part by heavy metal bands, it does not sound like any metal album you will have heard before. For one thing, few metal albums are filled with songs about plants. Each of Henki’s seven tracks deal with special plants throughout history, inspired by Circle’s guitarist Janne Westerlund instructing the group during recording to be less straightforward and more “like a plant.” He elaborates: “full of irregularities and unexpected details, and still they have an identifiable form…an organic growth within a certain shape.”
As mutual fans of each other, Circle and Dawson originally hit it off via Twitter, which led to Dawson being invited to accompany Circle for their set at Helsinki’s Sideways Festival in 2019. Dawson recalls the moment: “It was like being a teenager and suddenly being asked to go onstage with Iron Maiden. That’s how important this band are to me.” Having pulled that off, they started exchanging demos before they finally got in a room together to set off on their journey proper. Most of the recording took place in Pori—a fine jewel of a city on Finland's balmy west coast—across several visits, the last being in late January 2020 just as Covid-19 first reached Europe. From there, they had to finish Henki remotely, via waves of pure thought beamed across the dark dividing oceans betwixt them, and email.
Easily the greatest flora-themed hypno-folk-metal record you’ll hear this year, Henki adds an electrifying new chapter to the remarkable story of each act, marking the beginning of a beautiful partnership.
Circle, described as "the world’s greatest band - in every category” are Pekka Jääskeläinen (guitar), Julius Jääskeläinen (guitar), Jussi Lehtisalo (bass, voice), Mika Rättö (keyboard, voice), Tomi Leppänen (drums) and Janne Westerlund (guitar, voice). Richard Dawson plays guitar and vocals. Henki was mixed by Antti Uusimäki and mastered by Christian Wright.