Description
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ralph Dartford hails from Basildon in Essex, and now lives in West Yorkshire, having got there via Australia, Barcelona and Los Angeles. He was a founding member of influential spoken word collective ‘A Firm of Poets’, and his first collection of poetry, Cigarettes, Beer and Love was published by Ossett Observer Presents in 2013. His next collection, Recovery Songs, was published by Valley Press in 2019, and Hidden Music followed in October 2021.
PRAISE FOR HIDDEN MUSIC
‘We included everything we wanted to say without saying it.’
— Duke Ellington
‘Dartford’s latest collection is an unashamedly emotional homage to love, loss and Cubist fry-ups in south Yorkshire. A tender lament to the hidden music of heartbreak and the bittersweet transience of happiness, shot through with nostalgia, wry humour and a warm intelligence.’
— Anthony Clavane
‘Hidden Music is a fabulous “album” of poems, each unique but all musically intertwined. The effect is that of a late-night radio show, a slow drive along unlit roads, the poems feeding into the ear, softly, like the tracks they are linked to, pulling the reader through memory and imagination on a journey of poetic expression. This collection is a sublime experience; a refreshing, boundary-testing setlist that hits every note. I can’t wait to listen to the playlist now.’
— Wendy Pratt
‘With Debussy, Coltrane and Joni Mitchell by his side, Dartford escorts us through a sublime jukebox of memories, dreams and drunken vignettes in which flawed people try to love each other and get on with the business of being human. A vivid poet who has drawn from the wishing well of song-lyricism, Dartford captures the melodic pulse of love lost and hunted for in the streets of Soho to the housing estates of Basildon. We are with him in the carnage and the glory, waltzing to Dylan while scoffing a family bucket of KFC or boarding “the silent train to Lewes.” A great, genre-defying piece of work from a poet at the height of his powers.’
— Sarah Gillespie
Additional information
Edition: First
Date Published: 2021-10-08
ISBN: 9781912436682
Published: Vally Press
Number of Pages: 72
Cover art: Pete McKee
Cover & text design: Peter Barnfather
Commissioning editor: Jamie McGarry
Copyeditor: Emma King
