| Richard Dawson
New album The Ruby Cord out today – stream here
Music video for 41-minute track “The Hermit” to be screened online via Bandcamp
Confirms full 2023 UK tour
Photo credit: Kuba Ryniewicz
“Ambitious, complex epic” Uncut 9/10 – Albums of the Year
“One of the most inventive, exploratory albums of the year” Mojo 4*
“A prolific composer who takes old music forms and twists them into new and shocking shapes. His specialty is writing about the weirdness of modern life with equal parts of revulsion and humor, while the music often takes an adventurous, near-prog-like journey toward surprising and uncertain destinations.” Uproxx“The record caps off a period of extraordinary creative endeavour” The Quietus
Today is the release of Richard Dawson’s new album The Ruby Cord via Weird World. It is the final part of a trilogy that started with the pre-medieval world of Peasant, was brought back to the present day with 2020 and – possibly – concludes in the future with Dawson’s seventh studio album. Having not shared any music in advance, the record is now available to stream in full.
Stream The Ruby Cord here.
Dawson previously announced a live date at London’s Barbican Centre for May and is now pleased to confirm a full UK tour for next year. The tour announcement follows the recent cinema screenings of The Hermit, a music video directed by James Hankins of The Ruby Cord’s opening 41-minute track “The Hermit”. Bandcamp will be hosting a special online screening on Tuesday, November 22. Tune in here. Watch the trailer for The Hermit here.
— After recent collaborations with Finnish metal innovators Circle and his work with Hen Ogledd, The Ruby Cord is a return to Dawson’s own world with seven tracks that plunge us into 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.
While 2020 dealt in social realism with explorations of testy football matches, the fallacy of work-life balance and therapeutic forms of repetitive exercise, The Ruby Cord shakes off the limitations of so-called real life and delves headlong into a (sort of) sci-fi world where human society has collapsed and morphed into something distinctly less solid. “So many of us are moving into these fantasy worlds,” says Dawson. “Whether it’s actual constructed virtual realities, computer worlds, or retreating into even more fantastical realms…. conspiracy theories, nationalism, amateur football punditry. People construct their own world because this one is so flawed.”
As with Peasant and 2020, The Ruby Cord was recorded with Pigs x7’s Sam Grant at Blank Studios in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the mantra that emerged with The Hermit was “what happens if we push on a bit further?”. Joined by regular collaborators Rhodri Davies, Angharad Davies, and drummer Andrew Cheetham the answer to the question is: possibly Dawson’s best songwriting yet.
Cinema screenings
November 18 – CCA, Glasgow Tickets
2023 live dates
April 25 – New Century Hall, Manchester
April 26 – St Luke’s, Glasgow
April 27 – Tung Auditorium, Liverpool
April 28 – City Varieties, Leeds
April 27 – The Exchange Theatre, North Shields
May 3 – The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff
May 4 – St George’s Bristol, Bristol
May 5 – Barbican, London
May 6 – The Bradshaw Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham
Tickets
The Ruby Cord is available to buy on Dom Mart-exclusive double red vinyl with print, indies-exclusive double blue vinyl with print, standard double vinyl, CD and digitally. Preorder: Dom Mart | Digital
“The Hermit” is available to pre-order on a limited-edition CD single. Pre-order: Dom Mart
Richard Dawson Online
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