Richard Dawson and his Hen Ogledd bandmate Sally Pilkington have released sixty-three albums (!) during the thick of the pandemic with their Bulbils project. They are now releasing a compilation of that great mass of music, which they have condensed into a compilation of - threes songs. The Quietus is impressed by both their last year's feat, as well as this year's collection: "I have learned something quite valuable from this release. Or at least, it’s made me think enough to realise it. None of us knows how to act at the moment. We’re free, sort of, but we’re either trying to not loudly perform that freedom, or we’re being belligerent and aggressive about it. We can go to pubs, gigs, theatres, but we don’t know what it is to be in them again yet, or its consequence. Fear of nature’s chaos has made conspiracy rife. But here in the gesture of these two people we find that yes, things are unusual and scary, but doing things together, small, human things, like making music or anything creative and shared, is the answer".

Since the beginning of lockdown on Monday, March 23 in the UK, Richard Dawson and Sally Pilkington have been releasing albums as Bulbils, at the rate of almost one album a day. Their living room in Newcastle has been converted into a makeshift studio, with synths, vocoders, keyboards, guitars and drum machines; the music is, for the most part, hypnotic, lo-fi, beautiful and ambient. Pilkington told Quietus it's "kind of music we wouldn’t normally share, which feels like quite a personal thing. A lot of it’s quite rough and the kind of thing that’s quite unprocessed. It’s quite intimate in a way". Find all the albums at Bandcamp.

The Quietus is opposed to album rating and best-of lists in general, but still, they took a bullet for their audience and made a list of 100 best albums of 2019. Good that they did, it's one of the most diverse. In the top 10 only, they have Black Midi, Richard Dawson, and Sunn O))), […]

Dawson has just released his newest album '2020', so the Quietus had asked him to name his favourite albums. It's a diverse selection containing some classics like Nina Simone, and then there's Mongolian band Huun Huur Tu about men hunting with eagles, because - "so many musicians are posers, which is fine, but I never […]

'2020' is the sixth album from the much lauded, eccentric songwriter, "hugely witty, but dark as fuck. His lyricism is, frankly, wonderful", the Quietus says about Richard Dawson. His latest album "is heartbreaking, violent, defeated, and yet majestic... He’s an astonishingly good writer. I am awed and envious". What has changed since his last album? "He’s […]

The English folk musician had two critically acclaimed records - 2014's 'Nothing Important' and 2017's 'Peasant', and this years he returns with new album '2020', out October 11. On it he "introduces us to grand themes through small lives. His are portraits of human beings struggling with recognisable (and dare we say it, relatable) concerns, […]