Gareth Dickson

Gareth Dickson

Gareth Dickson is a British ambient folk musician based in Glasgow. His work is built around acoustic guitar, with analogue delay and reverb used to create a sound that draws on both contemporary ambient and electronic music and earlier fingerstyle guitar traditions. His songs are sometimes instrumental and sometimes include sparse vocals.

Work as a guitarist and collaborator

He tours extensively as Vashti Bunyan’s guitarist after she hears his music on the FatCat Records website. He also records and tours as a solo artist with Juana Molina. In addition, he works with a number of other musicians, including Devendra Banhart, Coco Rosie, Max Richter, David Byrne and Joe Boyd.

Solo releases

His debut album is Spruce Goose, released in 2005. His 2009 release Collected Recordings includes Drifting Falling and appears in the top 10 of a number of best-of-year lists. The Dance follows in 2010 and marks a move towards a more experimental approach, receiving attention from review sites such as Fluid Radio and Textura. He later releases Quite A Way Away in 2012, Invisible String in 2014 and Orwell Court in 2016. A release on the New York label 12k also brings renewed recognition for his earlier work.

Style and critical descriptions

His music is noted for using the guitar as a sound-making instrument to explore ambient textures and acoustic landscapes. It is described as having a ghostly, hovering quality, with references to deep unconscious or dreamlike states. It also receives descriptions such as haunting and ethereal, with a hazy melancholy.