False Door Records – 5th September 2025
Christopher Nosnibor
More than five years on from the onset of the pandemic, and still pandemic projects are emerging. The arrival of this release provides a timely reminder of a time which already many seem to have moved on from, forgotten. More than likely, there was a collective keenness to return to normal as quickly as possible, to bury the trauma and make like it never happened. There are many, of course, who will never forget, for a host of reasons. Many lost loved ones, but still many more suffered mentally, from isolation, from being trapped in abusive situations, or simply – I say ‘simply’ as if it’s something minor – the fear of the virus and the way the entire situation was managed and messaged by governments and media – not to mention the bewildering effusions of misinformation on social media.
In between home schooling, struggling to work as key workers, or struggling financially due to reduced furlough incomes, the idea that we were all in it together was essentially a myth – but people found ways of coping, and for those of a creative bent, new ways of creating became the focus.
For Johnny Richards and Dave King, this new way of creating involved emailing digital files across the world to one another: as the bio explains, ‘Richards recorded piano parts, some prepared, some using the piano as an explicitly percussive instrument, then sent King the files to the US for him to record his drum parts. Richards would then record further piano parts and overlay them, in response to King’s parts.’
At the time, there was much talk, many virtual column inches, devoted to the discussion of ‘the new normal’. Fleetingly, there was optimism, a hope for a kinder world, a world where we consumed less fossil fuels, where work / life balance was more evenly distributed… but since the end of the pandemic, it’s been hell, as if people pent up all their hatred and fury and have been unleashing it in war and antagonism and making up for lost time.
And so it is that The New Awkward reminds us of that fleeting spell of optimism, and as they reflect, ‘It could have happened at no other time. With its multiple layers percussion and piano, treated and untreated, it would be impossible to recreate live.’
Awkward is an appropriate choice of word for the title of this album. There is something almost feverish about the compositions, which are bursting with complex – and often irregular, contrasting, even conflicting – time signatures. At times, drums and piano happen upon coincidental timing, but for the most part, they seem to be duelling one another – not in an aggressive or antagonistic way, but playfully. On ‘The Chance Would be a Fine Ting’, there are moments where the parts intersect to forge a groove that almost has a swing, a swagger, albeit a slightly off-kilter, drunken one that staggers a little, the tempo changing as if the crank handle of an organ is slowing, then picking up pace again.
It’s a little disorientating, but ultimately fun, as titles like ‘Sleepless in Settle’ suggest – a title which only really makes sense in the context of Johnny’s being based in Leeds, or, more broadly, the north of England. The best jokes are always puns, especially when they’re super niche.
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The seven-and-a-half-minute ‘Memory Man’ has something of a vintage film feel to it, as well as a strong swing, and it’s easy to forget that this album features only piano and drums while listening to what, for all intents and purposes, sounds like a busy bassline leading a full band. The title track twists and twangs, is a bit noir, a bit late-night jazz café, but weird and woozy. ‘Gene Heard Wrong’ is another busy piece, the drums, played quietly but shuffling rapidly around the kit, as it twitching with anxiety, while the piano… the piano chinks and rolls with a nervous energy. ‘Darts’ strolls and stutters, while the last track, ‘Climbing on Mirrors’ builds slowly from dark atmospherics through softly loping beats with jarring discordant piano, and it sounds like everything is winding down… down… down.
From my own experience of lockdown – balancing working from home and home schooling a primary-school-aged daughter while my wife also worked from home, converting the living room sideboard into a desk until she installed a desk in our bedroom – devoting time – or stealing time, carving cracks in time late at night – for creative output was about the only thing that kept me even half sane. The fact that The New Awkward is far from straightforward makes sense in this context: I can relate to becoming so immersed, so invested in a project that it becomes its own world, and that its creation closes the door on the madness outside, all the texts and other messages, the screaming social media frenzy.
The New Awkward brings a lot back, and does so with mixed emotions. But throughout, it buzzes with a tense creative energy, urgent but also immersive and upbeat, the sound of unadulterated creative freedom.
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Aural Aggravation 