Perspectives : ØXN, Richard Dawson

A one-off double bill at NCH of folk innovators and friends ØXN and Richard Dawson

"a debut full of unsettling dark magic" - The Guardian *****

"a modern masterpiece" - The Irish TImes *****

ØXN exist at the cosmic intersection of its constituent parts, melding Lankum’s experimental doom folk (Radie Peat), the motorik euphoria of Percolator (John ‘Spud’ Murphy’ & Eleanor Myler) & Katie Kim’s glorious Lynchian meta-verse, to create a sound which exists somewhere between the traditional, the future and the eternal. What began as a side project duo between Radie Peat & Katie Kim in 2018, blossomed into a full-on sonic tapestry with the addition of Myler & Murphy during lockdown, resulting in one of the streaming highlights of the Covid era with an unforgettable live performance from a Martello tower, in conjunction with acclaimed visual artist & Lankum collaborator, Vicky Langan.

In October 2023, ØXN released their debut album 'CYRM' on the relaunched Claddagh Records to global critical acclaim, including a five star review as The Guardian Folk Album Of The Month, #4 in The Guardian's Folk Albums Of 2023 & a five star review in The Irish Times who hailed it as a 'modern masterpiece'.

Such is the degree to which Richard Dawson has drawn down long drafts from the whirlpools of Elemental North Eastern Archetypes, he may now be one himself. Fearless in his research and willingness to follow his inspiration, Dawson has created an impressive catalogue of music and storytelling steeped in both ancient myths and contemporary dread. A fog of sickness, trauma and mute inevitability inhabits these records and is often expressed in the havoc with which Dawson's hands produce sounds from his long-suffering guitar, an instrument as bruised, individual and indefatigable as its owner.

The title of Richard Dawson's latest album End of the Middle is a suitably slippery contradiction, one that invites multiple interpretations: Middle-aging? Middle-class? The middle-point of Dawson's career? The centre of a record? Centrism in general? Polarisation? The possibility of having a balanced discussion about anything? Stuck in the middle with you? Middle England? Middling songwriting?

End of the Middle is a wonkily beautiful peer into the workings of the family unit, perhaps several generations of the same family: "I wanted this record to be small-scale and very domestic", Dawson explains, "to be stripped back, stark and naked, and let the lyrics and melodies speak for themselves and for the people in the songs". By paring things right back what is revealed is a suite of remarkably poised, oddly elegant, beautiful music.

Presented by NCH