Enthusiastic Eunuch Proudly Presents

Richard Dawson (Solo)

with special guest Myles Manley

Friday 26^th May 2023

Doors 8pm

Tickets €22.50 from Whelan’s Box Office & Billetto.ie

Richard Dawson, one of the greatest live performers of our time, returns to Dublin in May 2023 on the back of his magnificent new album, ‘The Ruby Cord’ – the final part of a trilogy that started with the pre-medieval world of ‘Peasant’, was brought back to the present day with ‘2020’ and - possibly - concludes in the future with Dawson’s seventh (or is it sixth?) studio album.

Such is the degree to which Richard Dawson has drawn down long drafts from the whirlpools of Elemental North East English 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. After recent collaborations with Finnish metal innovators Circle and his work with Hen Ogledd, new record 'The Ruby Cord' is a return to Dawson’s own world with seven tracks that plunged 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 needed to engage with anyone but yourself and your own imagination.

After recent collaborations with Finnish metal innovators Circle and his work with Hen Ogledd, this is a return to Dawson’s own world with seven tracks that 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.

While 2020 dealt in social realism with explorations of testy football matches, the fallacy of work-life balance and therapeutic forms of repetitive exercise, The Ruby Cord shakes off the limitations of so-called real life and delves headlong into a (sort of) sci-fi world where human society has collapsed and morphed into something distinctly less solid. “So many of us are moving into these fantasy worlds,” says Dawson. “Whether it's actual constructed virtual realities, computer worlds, or retreating into even more fantastical realms…. conspiracy theories, nationalism, amateur football punditry. People construct their own world because this one is so flawed.”

Written during 2019, throughout 2020 and finished in 2021 – the lyrics to most of the record were conceived throughout the various Covid-19 lockdowns, as the side effects of isolation and state-imposed inwardness affected millions around the world. In that setting, tensions in the UK rose, people showed both altruism and selfishness, and the world got a whole lot more difficult to comprehend. Dawson wanted to move away from the “on-the-nose” directness of 2020 and bring down a layer of “fog” over proceedings, masking meanings that are there for those who care to delve just a bit deeper.

Myles Manley

Myles Manley is an Irish singer/songwriter whose music is an idiosyncratic mixture of folk, art rock, and pop music. Early releases Greatest Hits 2012-13 (Album, 2013), More Songs (EP, 2015) and singles Relax; Enjoy Your Night Upon The Town (2017) and i'm in love w myself (2018) established a strong critical reputation in Ireland, with fantastical music videos situating Myles Manley somewhere between enigmatic popstar and outsider folk artist.

In the pre-pandemic years Myles Manley toured the Irish and UK DIY scenes extensively with his 3 piece band, culminating in two releases in 2020: Aaa, a 3 song EP with interconnected narrative music videos; and Cometh the Softies, a 10 song album, which received praise from The Quietus, Clash Magazine, The Irish Times, The Thin Air and Jersey Beat among others.

The band roared back into action in 2022 with the Sketchy World Tour, taking them for their first dates in the USA, UK, France and Ireland. The Dublin date at Workmans Cellar on Thursday, June 9th will be a triumphant return to the city, and a very very belated release show for Cometh the Softies.