Jon Allen’s ‘Seven Dials’: a gritty journey through the 18th- century underworld of London

The album takes listeners on a gritty and vivid journey through 18th-century Covent Garden — a London neighborhood once known for its chaos, poverty, and moral decline. Renowned for his soulful voice and narrative songwriting, Allen dives deep into the raw street life of Britain’s capital during a time when survival was paramount. The songs draw inspiration from the atmosphere and tales of Covent Garden’s underworld — a place teeming with pickpockets, beggars, and ladies of the night, where the first signs of order emerged with the rise of the Bow Street Runners, England’s first police force.

The title Seven Dials refers to a notorious intersection in the district, where the lives of society’s outcasts converged. Each track on the album reflects this world, delivering a musical snapshot through a blend of acoustic grit, electric blues rock, and powerful lyrics. Themes of betrayal, struggle, and moral ambiguity run throughout the record.

The first single, The Shadow, is already available for streaming and sets the tone for the album: dark, compelling, and cinematic.

With Seven Dials, Allen succeeds in translating historical stories into universal themes that still resonate today. The result is an album that speaks as much about the past as it does about the present — about dignity, survival, and humanity in hard times.

Jon Allen first broke through with the album Dead Man’s Suit and has appeared on Jools Holland’s show on BBC. His music has since been featured in films, TV series, commercials, and on radio. A graduate of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, Allen draws influence from artists like Free, The Faces, Van Morrison, and Elton John, blending British and American roots into a unique sound.

Live in the Netherlands:
29 May – Patronaat, Haarlem
30 May – Rotown, Rotterdam
31 May – TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht
1 June – SPOT, Groningen
31 August – Zuiderparktheater, The Hague