Poetic, vivid, and original, the third in an great trilogy after the medieval-themed Peasant (2017), and 2019’s state-of-nation first-person narrative 2020, the remarkable Newcastle experimental folk artist’s newest LP is set in the post-human future. After various side projects, including releases with Circle and Hen Ogledd, this work is described as set in an “unreal, fantastical and at times sinister future where social mores have mutated, ethical and physical boundaries have evaporated; a place where you no longer need to engage with anyone but yourself and your own imagination.” It’s a long album of two halves. The first is a 40-minute epic - The Hermit - which begins with a slow, gentle 10-minute instrumental warm-up before Dawson begins to sing, and is filled with natural world images. It’s best enjoyed with its accompanying film, currently showing on a small cinema tour.
But arguably the most potent songs come in the second half, particularly Museum, which opens: “Welcome dear visitor / The first to our museum / In the dozen centuries / Since humans disappeared” and describes many images of human activity from the past, including, “Scared young soldiers wielding guns / Shoppers idly flicking through clothes ..Throngs of cheering football fans / A doctor crying alone / Riot police beating climate protestors / Babies being born.” All of these number dynamically transition in pace, volume and sound, filled with odd tunings and Dawson’s extraordinary range both on fretboard, and in his falsetto. Horse and Rider is another standout, particularly in its music, but best of all is perhaps The Tip of An Arrow, describing in detail an ancient weaponry craft, but also bringing into relief and dystopian future state of mind with these wonderful lines: “That in a world such as today’s / Where each person can display a bounty of data / On the quivering cave wall of their eyeball / At the merest flick of a lash / The only facts of any worth/ Are not so easily dispersed”. / Yes, it matters how we learn / Real knowledge must be earned / Everything else is a husk /“Wisdom’s simulacrum”. Brilliantly incomparable. Out on Domino and also via Bandcamp.
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