The SoundBite

Hen Ogledd - Free Humans Last yea r, Richard Dawson released 2020 , a grim take on modern culture that nevertheless felt humble compared to the onslaught of issues that the real 2020 would eventually yield. Social media, capitalism, Brexit, Amazon fulfillment centers - were all woven together into a horror-pastiche presenting the narrative of Dawson’s life within a greater world of evil and chaos. 2020 was one of the best albums of 2019 , and now, Dawson is back, this time with his side group Hen Ogledd, and this time developing a significantly lighter take on the world. Hen Ogledd roughly translates to “Old North” an area of Northern England rich in the Welsh history and culture that Dawson draws from so heavily. Surprisingly though, this side project is significantly more muted in these aspects than his solo work. With multi-instrumentalists’ Dawn Bothwell, Rhodri Davies, and new recruit Sally Pilkington, Dawson finds a more pop-oriented route to explore the surreal.  Mogic , th...

Richard Dawson - 2020 20 20 , is an ugly album. It's a biting, dirty and scattershot mediation on just how bad things have gotten and how much worse there going to get. Dawson fixates on the mundanity of life as the real disaster of the modern world, the stifling of art and social acquiescence towards technology seems only a bi-product. In the end, there's no happy ending, just more of the same. However, Dawson glides through these songs with grace and confidence, combining the avant-garde with his trademark Canterbury scene-folk pulling from England's past as much as its future. ~8.5