Gareth Dickson

Over the last few years Gareth Dickson has been steadily working his way to the attention of the music community. Based around the acoustic guitar, his compositions employ effects (analogue delay and reverb) in an attempt to recreate something of the modern ambient/electronic musical landscape which in many ways characterises recent times, as well as referencing some of the well known fingerpickers of the past such as Nick Drake and Bert Jansch. Sometimes entirely instrumental, sometimes with sparing vocals, always with the idea of exploring and finding new possibilities for an age old instrument. He has toured extensively as Vashti Bunyan’s guitarist and has toured as a solo artist providing support for Juana Molina and Isobel Campbell among others.

His first full-length release, Collected Recordings (2009, Drifting Falling), was described as “Sleek folk simplicity with velvet charmed tones lulling the listener into ambient drenched calm.” by Cyclic Defrost. In 2010 The Dance was released, marking a shift towards the more experimental and again gaining some great reviews from some of the more respected review sites such as Fluid Radio and Textura. 2012 sees the next step in the discography, as well as some long awaited recognition of the previous work, with a release on the 12k label. The new album is song based this time, like Collected Recordings, but also combines some of the more rhythmic elements developed in The Dance.

“From Glasgow, a solo artist singing and playing acoustic guitar – sometimes effected, his songs slip between a beautifully sparse, emotive fragility (recalling Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, etc.) and denser instrumentals (recalling Eno or Labradford). Very cool stuff.” – FatCat Records