The idiosyncratic songsmith’s path from “very dangerous” debut to multi-layered newest – Uncut takes a have a look at Richard Dawson’s most interesting work, within the newest difficulty of Uncut journal – in UK outlets from Thursday, November 10 and in the stores from our on-line retailer.
“Is it OK to massive up your individual music?” asks Richard Dawson, partway into our dialogue. “I’ve slagged off all the things to this point, however I used to be simply paving the way in which for an enormous self-aggrandising which would be the remainder of the interview…”
Whereas the Newcastle songwriter is definitely important of his personal work, there’s actually no want: throughout the final decade or so, the guitarist and singer has constructed a compelling and deeply distinctive physique of music. Right here he takes Uncut via his information to this point, from his “very dangerous” debut and the a cappella triumph of The Glass Trunk proper via to the mighty, labyrinthine Peasant, his heavy collaboration with Finnish rockers Circle and his newest, sci-fi-inspired opus, The Ruby Twine, which seems in our 75 Greatest Albums Of 2022.
“It’s going to be attention-grabbing discovering out what folks consider the brand new one,” Dawson says, “as a result of I’m ready for all eventualities. I assume it’s in all probability not probably the most fast file… This has been an important remedy session, anyway!”
RICHARD DAWSON
SINGS SONGS AND PLAYS GUITAR
DOWNBEAT, 2005
Dawson’s embryonic first long-player, launched by the Newcastle file store the place he labored
I really feel like that is the work of another person. In all probability there’s some good melodies right here and a few good concepts, however there’s simply so many issues with it. There’s loads of imitation, not least the terrible American accent, which I believe is an issue for lots of singers after they’re beginning out… However I wasn’t actually beginning out, so there’s no excuse! I believe it’s very dangerous.
The lyrics are clumsy, the entire vibe is simpering, it’s too self-obsessed, it’s a large number. I don’t need to spoil it, as a result of some folks may take pleasure in it, and I don’t need to put anyone off releasing their dangerous first album. I used to work on the file store Alt.Vinyl, and this was the primary launch on their label. I need to apologise to my good pal Graham for being so down about it, as a result of the job they did was nice. The open tunings didn’t come till later.
I used to be wrestling with a pal exterior a pub, and so they have been gonna fall fairly closely, so I put my hand beneath them and snapped my little finger. It was actually dangerous on the time as a result of I assumed it wasn’t gonna heal proper in any respect – and it hasn’t, nevertheless it has given us an extended attain on that digit. However I had a great deal of gigs lined up, so I found out find out how to play a bunch of songs in open tuning so I might simply use one or two fingers. Then I wrote a couple of songs in that tuning and went from there.
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