In Simon Armitage’s work, there has always been a territory he identifies as ‘a twilight zone’ where poetry and song lyric converge. He has explored it through numerous enterprises – most recently with the ‘ambient post-rock’ band Land Yacht Regatta. Many of the lyrics collected here were written for LYR. Others are drawn from Armitage’s days with the DIY indie band The Scaremongers, various film and theatre productions including Songbirds and the BAFTA-winning Feltham Sings, and other miscellaneous ventures. The volume’s ‘Intro’ charts these projects and the blurred origins of ritualised language, while its ‘Outro’ offers contextualising notes and anecdotal insights.Never Good with Horses further demonstrates the rich range of Armitage’s repertoire and celebrates his ear for the music of language, harnessed here for the page.
