by David Wilikofsky
Richard Dawson is a folk troubadour for all times. His last album, Peasant, was a concept album about Medieval England. With his newest album, 2020, he blasts into the future with an exploration of contemporary England. The riffs are heavy, the tone is dark and Dawson proves himself to be an adept observer of our present condition.
Opener “Civil Servant” sets the tone for the album; after some lurching riffs, Dawson sings a tale of the daily drudgery of a government worker. After complaining about his commute, job and coworkers, he finally works up the courage to play hookie from work and stay in bed playing Call of Duty. As the album continues, we are introduced to a series of down and out characters; they grapple with anxiety and depression, their jobs (or lack thereof), and the ways in which technology has encroached on our everyday lives.
Written as the spectre of Brexit loomed over the UK, you can hear the shadows of nationalism at the fringes of the songs. After a flood occurs in “Two Halves,” immigrants are blamed for using up resources that could have gone to shoring up the town’s flood defenses. A brick is thrown through a Kurdish family’s window, and the police do nothing about it even though they know the culprit. Dawson’s songs observe and reject these xenophobic sentiments; as the narrator of “Jogging” tells us, “it’s lonely up here in middle England”.
2020 isn’t easy listening. Musically this is some of the heaviest and most abrasive music Dawson has put out in his career, but it fits perfectly as a backdrop to the stories in these songs. To me, Dawson has perfectly encapsulated the malaise of these modern times with 2020.