I thought I’d be a bit self-indulgent this week. I mean I know there’s not really a time when writing a weekly Substack *isn’t* self-indulgent, but this is more so than most. Then again, it also doubles as a public service announcement, so there is that…

In 2017 or thereabouts, I was introduced by a mutual friend to a fella called Matthew Edwards, who fronted a band called Matthew Edwards and the Unfortunates. As the name suggests (for those of you unfamiliar with BS Johnson, the name comes from one of his novels), they were an unashamedly literate bunch who had been compared to Kevin Ayers (Uncut) and Robyn Hitchcock, The Go-Betweens and Nick Cave (WithGuitars.com), with Edwards himself described as the ‘heir to Brel and Gainsbourg’ (The Quietus).

A few months later we met up again, and indulged in an exchange of books and cds. I went onto listen to two great albums - Folklore and The Fates - while Matthew got to read my first novel - The Space Between Things - and a novella called Stuff. So far, so unsurprising unless, of course, you count this sort of civility as a bit of a shock these days (muttermutterusedtobefieldsofWerthersetc). Then he got in touch to say that having read what I'd given him, he'd stumbled on a solution to a problem he'd been wrestling with, namely what to call his new album.

The result was The Birmingham Poets. It's brilliant. And if I never write another thing, it will all have been worthwhile... 

The Birmingham Poets by Matthew Edwards and the Unfortunates (soundcloud.com)