“I don’t have the words for it,” says Richard Dawson. “I almost want to cry telling you about it. What they’ve achieved, and what they do, is so important. It’s really precious.” Dawson is speaking tenderly about a place that means a lot to him. Where he has spent hours sat in darkness, in contemplative silence, as images and sounds play out on a screen over the quiet hum of the city’s metro that runs beneath it. The Tyneside cinema in Newcastle is “an absolute beacon”, he says. “A cultural institution which is doing something totally unique. If that were to go the whole city drops and becomes a much less attractive proposition.” It has been beyond vital to him over the years. “There was a point where I used to see everything that was on there religiously,” he says. “It showed everything that you couldn’t see anywhere else.”
Film is a huge part of Dawson’s life. “It’s very important,” he says. “And increasingly more so than music. Sometimes I have this feeling, not all the time, but maybe about half the time, where I wonder if I even like music at all. I can’t find anything to listen to and I don’t feel like I’m interested in it in the same way. I don’t care about the track titles and things. Whereas with films I’m so into every aspect of it. The dates and the various actors and the crew. I just go so deep. If I had to choose, that would be the art form for me.”
Dawson’s latest album, the beautiful End Of The Middle, has cinematic influences to it too. Specifically, the films of Yasujirō Ozu, which the album has some shared sensibilities with via Dawson’s intimate yet intricate explorations of domesticity, home, and story of the family unit told over several generations. “I think it’s quite useful to take your inspiration from everywhere but the area that you’re working in,” he says. “So I take a lot of inspiration from films.”
So, ahead of his upcoming tour to promote the album, he’s put together a list of films that expand on some of the areas that he’s explored on the record. “The overriding theme of the list is family,” he explains. “They’re not necessarily family friendly films but maybe ones that uncover aspects of how different generations work together.”
Richard Dawson’s new album End Of The Middle is out now via Domino. He tours the UK beginning 23 April, with full dates and remaining tickets available here. To begin reading his Baker’s Dozen, click ‘First Selection’ below
