If British freak folk discovery
Richard Dawson seemed rather inscrutable on his debut album, 2012's
The Magic Bridge, he's delivered a far bigger head-scratcher with his second full-length release, 2014's
Nothing Important. While
The Magic Bridge offered 12 pieces of varying length that found
Dawson spinning tales that were sometimes charming and sometimes puzzling while he skittered about on his amplified acoustic guitar,
Nothing Important sounds less composed and more improvised as
Dawson reaches deeper into the well of noise and extends his focus with two numbers that run over 16 minutes, accompanied by two other pieces that seem relatively economical at 6:40 and 4:48. The shorter pieces are instrumental, while
Dawson's vocals on the extended songs are often mixed low enough that they're a bit hard to make out, which isn't helped much by the often cryptic themes that emerge when you can follow him. But when the pieces all fit together midway through "The Vile Stuff," the most formally structured piece on the album, the effect is genuinely impressive as
Dawson's dour, fractured guitar lines and the hard stomp of the percussion rise into something honestly majestic. The real meat of
Nothing Important, of course, is in
Dawson's guitar work, and even when he seems to be noodling, the sharp report of his instrument and his use of feedback takes him into a place your average eccentric folkie would never go -- there are moments here when he seems like a sunnier and very British version of Jandek, but
Nothing Important suggests he's developing a guitar style that's less chops-intensive but every bit as compelling as
Nels Cline or
Marc Ribot, and the fact that one man with a guitar and some occasional overdubs can make something this powerful and challenging is truly impressive. It says a lot about
Richard Dawson that's he's made two albums with very different personalities that still clearly come from the same musical mind, and
Nothing Important's best moments clearly belie its title. ~ Mark Deming