Richard Dawson is welcomed back into the throb and hum of The Microplex with screening of his new 40 minute pop video + Q & A.

To celebrate the release of his new solo album 'The Ruby Cord' via Weird World/Domino on Nov 18, Richard Dawson presents a 40-minute pop video for the album's opening track, a sprawling mood piece entitled 'The Hermit' that tells the story of a loner living in a bucolic dreamworld.

Directed by Bristol filmmaker James Hankins and shot across South-West England in summer 2022, the short film will be shown at several cinemas and art spaces across the UK in the week leading up to the album release, with Q & A sessions after each screening. These events offer the first opportunity to hear music from 'The Ruby Cord' - plus there is the option to buy a screening + album ticket bundle, with the album available to collect on the night.

The Cube is proud to be an executive producer of 'The Hermit' video.

Epic.

Trailer here

Pop out your earpiece, open your eyes and embrace the wonders (and horrors) of augmented reality and prepare to travel 500 years into the future as Richard Dawson returns with his new album The Ruby Cord with a rousing film followed by a live Q&A. Special! Time to encounter The Hermit.

After recent collaborations with Finnish metal innovators Circle and his work with Hen Ogledd, this album 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.

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.”

“The Hermit” is Dawson’s most ambitious work thus far, taking the epic storytelling of 2014’s “The Vile Stuff” and stretching the limits even further into a sprawling 40-minute mood piece that acts as the gateway to the rest of The Ruby Cord.

Get in quick. Solo or in company...you're welcome.