Richard Dawson, 2020 review: Stark, clear-eyed poetry stings with realism

Bleak peculiarities: Richard Dawson's latest album explores modern Britain
Jochan Embley13 October 2019

On this latest release, Richard Dawson writes stark, clear-eyed poetry to navigate the bleak peculiarities of modern Britain.

Across 10 tracks he presents a richly formed cross-section of society, featuring an inconsolable civil servant, xenophobic butcher, homeless man, anxious jogger and emotionally confused football dad. They all sting with realism.

Whether his characters are drawn from personal experience or simply imagined is unclear, which proves Dawson’s immense empathy as a songwriter. His words shun cliché, embrace truth and ripple with ink-black humour.

The centrepiece is Fulfilment Centre, a nightmarish portrait of the modern-day workhouse. We hear of workers urinating in bottles while others collapse and froth at the mouth. The niggling, neurotic beat briefly gives way to something pleasant — a sort of lobotomised bliss. The juxtaposition of the last two lines, though, is devastating: “There has to be more to life than killing yourself to survive/ One day I’m going to run my own café.”

Dawson’s eccentric arrangements are a perfect backdrop, staggering from avant-folk to noise rock to lo-fi indie. All put together, 2020 is ugly and beautiful, hopeful and hopeless, unpredictable and familiar. This album, then, is a product of its times. It is a wrenching masterpiece.

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