''Henki'' is a 2021 collaborative album by the English singer-songwriter

Richard Dawson Richard Dawson (born Colin Lionel Emm; 20 November 1932 – 2 June 2012) was an English-American actor, comedian, game-show host, and panelist. Dawson was well known for playing Corporal Peter Newkirk in ''Hogan's Heroes'', as a regular panel ...

and the Finnish experimental rock group

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...

. The album has seven songs that are all related to the life of plants and trees. The title, according to Circle's

Jussi Lehtisalo Jussi Lehtisalo (born 1972) is a Finnish musician. In 1991, he founded Circle, a prolific band drawing influences from heavy metal and krautrock to develop a style of repetitive experimental rock. He also runs a record label, Ektro Records, rele ...

, is a Finnish word meaning "spirit" or "ghost". The collaboration between Dawson and Circle started with the exchange of demos, and then they met in

Pori Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...

, a city on Finland's West Coast where Circle are based. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the 2020 lockdown meant the album had to be finished remotely.

Meaning

"Methuselah" tells the story of

Donald Rusk Currey Donald Rusk Currey (January 24, 1934 – June 6, 2004) was an American professor of geography. While known in academia for his extensive research and exploration of relics of the ancient Lake Bonneville in the eastern Great Basin, he was best kno ...

's cutting down of

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

, the world's oldest tree. "Lily" tells of a hospital nurse in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

who witnesses paranormal events after the death of patients, including the appearance of a room full of flowers.

Reception

Critics thought well of the album. Louis Pattison, writing for ''Pitchfork'', gave the album 7.5 out of 10, and said, "In a catalog already noted for strangeness, ''Henki'' might be Richard Dawson's strangest album to date. But his ideas are fertilized by these songs' peculiar twists and turns; the more Dawson and Circle lean into their eccentricities, the more their music resonates. Whatever Dawson writes about, he's really writing about people—the ways we choose to live our lives, and the strange and awful things that befall us along the way. ''Henki'' blows up these themes into widescreen, unfolding across continents, centuries, and even the afterlife." Phil Mongredien, writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', highlighted "Silene" and "Methuselah": "A sprawling epic written from the perspective of a seed and a lament for an ancient tree are highlights on this inspired collaboration".

Year-end lists

Track listing

# "Cooksonia" – 6:30 # "Ivy" – 8:57 # "Silphium" – 12:07 # "Silene" – 7:16 # "Methuselah" – 8:26 # "Lily" – 5:56 # "Pitcher" – 6:36

References

{{reflist 2021 albums Richard Dawson (musician) albums Circle (Finnish band) albums