End of the Middle

Richard Dawson’s ability to squeeze complex multi-character storytelling into stripped-back folk songs has seen the Newcastle native earn the title of the ‘black-humoured bard’. Where his previous albums provided scathing social commentary on the past, present and future state of the nation, on End of the Middle Dawson turns his attention to the world right in front of him, unpacking the joys and pains of the inane and the mundane. ‘Gondola’ is an ode to daytime television and the snowballing weight of unrealised dreams; feelings of inadequacy and self-loathing surface at a friend’s wedding on ‘Knot’; a headless haunting leaves a high-achieving young women doubting her life path on ‘The question’; and the honest toil of a local allotment offers a sense of purpose and belonging on ‘Polytunnel’. Listen closely, and repeatedly, because every word, phrase and throwaway pop culture reference carries significance in Dawson’s mythologies, unearthing the anxiety, chaos and comfort of domestic life.