Peasant

I love this record! Such interesting song writing and guitar playing. The arrangements are curious and fun. The sound is sort of.. psychedelic ren fair deathcult-ish? At least on a few songs anyways. Highly recommended. Loving the pressing on vinyl. Sounds good and lovely artwork, with lyrics!

By far my favorite album of 2017. I can't count how many times I've listened all the way through, discovering something new. The record took a while to sink in, but like most great albums, eventually revealed itself. Dawson obtains an impressive level of empathy in inhabiting the album's characters. Yes, it's basically medieval folk. Yes, his vocal style might be an acquired taste. But rarely have I been so amused, horrified and fascinated equally by an album. I've recommended it to all my friends, though to be honest, none of them have taken the bait. Specific sampling if you're curious: Soldier and Scientist were the two most immediate tracks for me. If you do get this, remember, Dawson is above all telling stories. Read the lyrics.I can only imagine what his live shows must be like. If his previous work is any indication, probably a fair amount of instrumental meanderings. And with this current work, hopefully some sing-along, group embodiment of fictional, tragic, medieval characters.Highly, highly recommended if you're into evocative, off-kilter fare.

I fell in love with this album upon first listen. Richard Dawson is wildly creative and is able to weave complex songs with intricate guitar-work and compelling narratives.I highly recommend this album to anyone interested in the avant-folk genre, or to anyone looking for something new and refreshing.

This is a strange record. On my first listen, I found myself getting unusually annoyed. This was probably partly down to the fact I'd spent over 20 quid on a vinyl copy of an album I could never conceive of listening to again, but my irritation went beyond that. I found myself getting unreasonably tetchy with my kids and developed a pulsatile headache around my right eye. It's unusual for me to experience such an extreme physical response to a record but, given Dawson's idiosyncratic singing, his discordant guitar work and lyrics which veered between the artless and the esoteric, not surprising in the context.In the end, though, I think it might have been the price that persuaded me to give it another go. If I'd spent a tenner on the CD, it would have probably ended up in a cupboard somewhere like Wingspan by Paul McCartney or that concept album by Richmond Fontaine but, thanks to the additional monetary outlay, I was inspired to give it another go. I wouldn't say the second listen was a revelation, but it was certainly less of a trial by acoustic combat. Dawson's untutored vocals now seemed to fit and tunes started to reveal themselves. These were good tunes, too, with some tracks featuring two or three of them. The guitar playing remained awful, admittedly, but it was clear this was more than an elaborate joke at the expense of the middle aged record buying public. By the third listen, I'd become a little bit obsessed with Peasant.I bought a few other records at around the same time, but I've barely bothered with them. Every time I return to it, I find something new to focus on. I'll probably tire of it eventually but for now, this is looking like my album of the year.

It's about time!I'd wondered how long we were doomed to suffer the overkill of tame, small-talent singer-songwriters of the Sheeran-Murs-Puth ilk, without someone with genuine originality to come along and blow such messy cobwebs away. Well, he's here.This astounding, unclassifiable set of songs and near-songs has, I'm very happy to say, already come high in some Best of 2017 lists, and heartily deserved to. I haven't heard such an original voice ~ in the widest sense of the word ~ for a long time. In fact, the last time I got so excited about a singer or band was when my nephew put me onto the similarly earthy Black Keys.Peasant is a song-cycle about the Dark Age region of Bryneich, in the N.E. of England {Dawson is from Newcastle} with each track given a one-word title such as Herald, Weaver, Beggar, Prostitute, Hob, etc. The music itself is . . . well now, let's take a flying one ~ a hybrid of spiky Marc Ribot/Dan Auerbach guitar, with discordancy and scrapings abounding, clear, plaintive solo singing by RD and choral interludes and climaxes, a big oddball debt to Kevin Coyne, as well as a Robin Williamsonian vocal waywardness, and a dollop of muddy Englishness over the whole thing ~ all of which is remarkably haunting, oddly passionate, and utterly unforgettable.My only quibble really is that I so wish Dawson had varied the instrumentation of the songs more, for example included more brass band sounds, or even some 'early music' horns & strings; there's a saminess to some of the tracks, which is a shame as this is a truly fascinating set of songs, one which grew on me with each hearing.However, make no mistake, you'll never have heard anything quite like this before. Dawson's previous releases gave notice of a unique voice on the scene, this one fulfils that promise in spades.The packaging is fine, with a booklet containing all the song lyrics ~ but why is there no note at all about the premise for the album, the region of Bryneich and its denizens so acutely imagined by Dawson? Not even a brief paragraph. A pity.Listen, and marvel.{Two months later: there really is nothing around like this. What on earth will Dawson do next . . . !}

I have a close friend who, like me, is really into his music. This friend describes this as "Emperor's new clothes", and whilst i can see why he might say this, he's wrong! On first play I was very much reminded of the Incredible String Band and thought the whole thing was willfully out of tune. But I was wrong too! Richard Dawson takes a few listens and, in my case, quite bit of time too to let everything begin to sink in. I now find this release a joyous affair unlike anything else in my collection and thank Mr. Dawson for opening my ears to new musical possibilities. In the end I see the role of the artist is to open us up too "seeing" the world in new ways and consequently I consider Richard Dawson a genuine artist worth your time.

The characters on a medieval manuscript come to life, with all the dark humour and woe which you might expect from those times. There are lines and choruses of tremendous power, and you might well find yourself dancing around a campfire at midnight waving a chicken-leg. Some reviewers haven't liked the wonky guitar work, but it's essential to the tragicomic sound-world overall; and there are new things to discover on re-hearing the whole.

I have put pen to paper before to chat about Sir Richard, But I’m going to do it again.He is brilliant!!!This time around he’s written a song suite about a set of characters whose namanclature gives one a contemporary evaluation of thier social standing ( I’m not joking).Live he describes them as “ Having happened in North East England in the 13 th century, or going to happen on a space ship in 500 years time”.Mankind seems doomed to repeat its mistakes!!!Still if we have observers this accurate on the human condition, with an ear for a blinding tune , I look forward to attending a Richard D. show in 500 years time.