Nigella Dawson Make

Pop in your earpiece, close your eyes and embrace the wonders (and horrors) of augmented reality and prepare to travel 500 years into the future as Richard Dawson returns with…The Ruby Cord. These seven tracks 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. It’s a leap into a future that is well within reach, in some cases already here.

Henki is the epic joint record from Richard Dawson, the diminutive Geordie troubadour, and Circle, the genre-straddling pioneers of The New Wave Of Finnish Heavy Metal. Unlike any metal album you have heard before, Henki’s seven tracks deal with special plants throughout history, making it the greatest flora-themed hypno-folk-metal record you’ll hear this year.

I found it ok at first but a couple of months into lockdown I started to feel quite down about all the unplayed gigs and lost moments, a bit more anxious than usual and pretty disconnected. So I wanted to make something small (but proper) to try and reconnect. I hope this collection might be something hopeful, or at least a useful distraction.

In this collection of Irish Welsh and Scottish songs, Lynne Dawson presents her personal choice of Beethoven’s folk song arrangements. She has almost matchless ability to reproduce the simple tone of these melodies with her charming and touching timbre, accompanied by the austere sound of historical instruments.