Newcastle songwriter Richard Dawson will release his sixth solo album on 11 October. 2020 follows on from 2017 release Peasant and has the singer give voice to the modern day citizen, as opposed to the ancient stories depicted in previous releases.

“I was keen to avoid making another album set in the past so soon,” explains Dawson. “Peasant is an album that sounds like it’s covered in dry mud and twig scratches, but I had the feeling that this record needs to be incredibly direct, so that the songs are happening now.”

He continues, “I actually found it incredibly challenging writing in this setting; I think any poetic tricks, devices and grandiose sentiments I might have previously used got scrubbed away in the face of what the characters in these songs are trying to say. People’s thoughts are messy, awkward, conflicting. So whereas with Peasant there was much space for poetry, experimentation and wordplay, here it felt more appropriate to be straight and unvarnished.”

This winter Dawson will be touring across the UK, with dates at London Moth Club (19 November); Brighton Komedia (20); Manchester RCNM Concert Hall (21); Leeds Belgrave Music Hall (22); Liverpool Studio 2 (23); Edinburgh The Caves (26); Glasgow CCA (27); and Newcastle Sage Gateshead (13 December).

You can watch the video for album track “Jogging”, directed by Edwin Burdis, below. 2020 is released on Domino/Weird World. Pre-orders for CD and double LP are available now.