Richard Dawson: The Hermit Film Screening

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

The Hermit is an epic, gently disorienting pop video treatment of Richard Dawson's 41-minute track of the same name. Jumping off from the song's main lyrical conceit – a vivid alternate universe as experienced by someone waking in the forest of a constructed video game domain – disparate characters played by non-actors appear in situations by turns mundane, educational, industrial and fantastical, the lines between realities virtual and actual wilfully blurred. Dawson plays the loner protagonist, observing on the margins. Is this the past, or a near-future resembling mythic Albion? What happens if there’s a glitch in the virtual world, turning a pastoral scene into one of dread? Are we witnessing the last day on earth, or just an unsettlingly close simulation?