Album Review: Hen Ogledd - Mogic

Richard Dawson has a ferocious reputation for throwing the ball at his audience deep from the leftfield. Dawson takes a break from solo experimentation and as the founding member of Hen Ogledd, which is Welsh for The Old North, he opts for band-like collaboration with Rhodri Davies, Dawn Bothwell and Sally Pilkington. Like much of Dawson’s work this album does take many listens to achieve a certain level of appreciation. Hen Ogledd produce a dense and thickly layered mix that weirdly juxtaposes a multitude of musical styles to produce a weird but kaleidoscopic noise with plenty of pop hooks. The band’s ambitious musical aspirations are backed up by some simply great playing and a cheekily playful attitude that is very heartwarming.

The driving concept behind Mogic is an attempt to connect the mythical and the ancient with current technological realities. Sky Burial connects traditional burial rituals with potentially immortal digital marks in the wide blue yonder of cloud computing. The futuristically funky First Date amusingly considers our digital footprints in the context of the singles scene and online dating. Rounding off this album is the sassy destruction that Welcome To Hell unleashes. Etheldreda serenely reboots into an artificially intelligent future. Its hymnal tone feels like heaven but as a virtual simulation, it's an imaginary place that doesn’t really exist.